Willing to Live: A Sequel (Daring to Feel)
by supernaturaldixon
Summary: This book is a SEQUEL:: As the group finds a new place to call home, Sadie-Mae spirals further into her darkness. Will the burden of her past be too much to survive in this world, or will Rick & Daryl be able to help her will to live. Find out in the sequel of Daring to Feel. Disclaimer: I do not own the right or characters from TWD show or comics. Only my own characters!
1. Chapter 1: A Standing Place

The winter was long and cold. Somehow we managed to get through it with no casualties. It wasn't easy, and we came close a couple of times but we are all still together. The haunting idea that Andrea is dead made me feel worse about myself. She saved me and if I wasn't such a coward maybe she would still be alive. I tried to talk to Lori about it but she always tells me that we don't know for sure if she's dead or not, we will never know. I want to believe that, but we've been around this part of Georgia all winter and I think she would have left a sign or something to tell us she was okay. At least that was wishful thinking. Spring begins to blossom, the days aren't as cold and we come across another house. Carol, Hershel, Beth and I stay back with Lori. Carrying our things and watching out for her as the small women moves with a waddle. She's due in another month and it's getting harder for her to keep moving. I didn't mind offering to help her travel when it started to get harder for her, things with Daryl have been weird ever since I kissed him, and he avoids me when he can. We sit in the run down, bug infested living room. Daryl starts to pull at the feathers of an owl he shot in the house while Carl brings in a can of food from the kitchen. He begins to open it but after he does Rick grabs it out of his hands and looks at it. "Dog food" he mutters before throwing it against the wall, the goop spilling over the rotted wood floor. I sit next to Lori, whose trying to fight back the tears when T-dog whistles out to us. It's his signal that it's time to move on, walkers getting close. We grab everything quickly, already in a pile at the door and Daryl leads us out the back way and we head back towards the cars. We drive along another road that looked like the others and stop to figure out our next move.

Rick comes over to the car where Maggie, Hershel, Daryl, T-Dog, and I are looking at a map. "We've got no place left to go." T-dog states after looking at it.

"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off, we'll never make it south." Maggie explains.

Daryl asks out loud "What do you say, it's about 150 head?"

"That was last week, could be twice that now." Glenn shakes his head.

Hershel points on the map "this river could have delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through this."

"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way." Glenn explains remembering another heard we've come across.

"So we're blocked." I comment matter of factly.

Daryl coifs at my words and Rick speaks up "only thing to do is double back at 27th and swing towards Greenville."

"We picked through that already, it's like we spent the winter going in circles." T-dog explains.

Rick's eyes are heavy "yeah, I know. I know. At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through the area. We can't keep going house to house." His eyes drift off to his wife, sitting in the truck. "We need to find some place to hold up for a few weeks."

"Alright." T-dog agrees. "Is it cool if we get to the creek before we head out? It won't take long. We gotta fill up on water, we can boil it later."

It's not too long that we are done by the creek that Rick gathers us back together "I found it" he says, trying to hide a smile "Get the weapons, let's go. Follow me." He directs.

We all stare at him, wondering what the hell he's talking about when Daryl yells out "Come now! Ya heard the man!" and our feet move. I grab the supply bag why the others take hold of their weapons. Rick brings us to the site of a jail. We make our way to a fenced in walkway. Rick begins to cut at the wire for us to sneak through and Daryl and Glenn get his back, it opens enough for us to slip in "watch the backside!" He shouts.

"Got it!" I holler back as look out. Everyone crosses the wire, Glenn begins to wire it back up so no walkers can slip through it. We hurriedly walk down the trail, the dead coming to the fence for food. Daryl opens a door where the alley stops.

We look ahead at what lies in front of us. A courtyard filled with dead prisoners, guards and some others. Behind it lay the prison. "It's perfect." Rick says. "If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight."

"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asks

"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asks.

Glenn offers to do it but Maggie doesn't like the idea "no, it's a suicide run."

Glenn argues "I'm the fastest."

Rick takes control with a plan as he usually does "No. You, Maggie and Beth draw as many as you can over there," he says pointing back towards the walkway "pop them through the fence. Daryl, go back to the other tower. Carol, you've become a pretty good shot, take your time, we don't have a lot of ammo to waste. Hershel, you and Carl, take this tower. " he points to the one closest to him.

"And me?" I ask when he's done.

He looks at me then his wife "you stay with Lori, keep an eye around everyone. Shout out what you see." He directs and I nod. "Everybody gets in position. I'll run for the gate." He nods after, agreeing with himself on everything he said.

Glenn, T-Dog, Maggie and Beth run off to draw the walkers towards them. They scream and holler out for them, a lot making their way over to where they are. They start to kill them one by one, stabbing them in their heads and through the faces. Lori stands next to her husband and he nods at her. She opens the gate for him to go through and as soon as he crosses I help her close and lock it. A walker coming towards it. Lori stabs it with a screw driver through the eye and it falls down fast. Rick runs towards the prison fence, shooting walkers who get in his way. I look at everyone carefully, watching the walkers that come close "Glenn!" I shout to him as one tries to grab the weapon Maggie is using. He helps her, killing it and they continue on. Rick reaches the gate and shuts it. As he does, more are closing in on him. I try and yell out like everyone else to get the attention off of him but they are too far from us and too close to him, to a moving meal. Rick gets inside a guard tower and closes the door just in time, blocking the dead from getting him.

Lori sighs in relief and tries to hug me. Her belly getting in the way. We smile at one another as Daryl yells from the tower "Light it up!" Everyone takes out their guns and shots begin to ring through the air. I take this time to scan the fence area, to find any weak spots and tie them up now. The shots begin to slow down and people are retreating out of their spots. Rick kills the last one and a smile creeps across his face and we all meet up at the alley again.

I open the gate for everyone to pass along with Lori. Carol comes out with a smile on her face "Fantastic! she explains.

"Nice shooting" Daryl compliments her.

Carol replies, accepting "Yeah" she directs her attention to Lori "You okay?"

Lori replies "I haven't felt this good in weeks" With a big smile. Carol and Daryl both grab her on the arm as they pass with smiles. Carol gives me one as well but Daryl just looks away. We all go into the courtyard with excitement.

"Oh!" Carol skips forward in delight "Oh, oh! We haven't had this much space since we left the farm!"

T-Dog shouts out "WHOOOH!"

And I get a running start for a round off back handspring. I land on my feet and tumble back onto my ass with laughter. I lay on the grass with my arms and legs spread out as if I'm making a snow angel. "I didn't know you could do that" Beth comes smiling over to me.

I lift my neck off the ground "its been a long time." I say back "I'm just happy I didn't twist my wrist!" I whisper and we both chuckle.

I sit around the fire with Glenn, Carl, Maggie, Beth, T-dog and Hershel. Glenn finishes the meat of the animal from his bone and hums out "Mmmm... Just like mom used to make." He throws the bone off into the field.

"Tomorrow, we'll put all the bodies together. We want to keep them away from that water. Now, if we can dig a canal under the fence, we'll uh have plenty of fresh water." T-dog says to us all.

Hershel already planning on farming says "the soil is good, we could plant some seed, grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans." He looks up then over to Rick "that's his third time around. If there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now."

Beth turns to Lori "this will be a good place to have the baby. Safe."

A little while passes when Hershel address his youngest "Bethy, sing 'Paddy Reilly' for me. I haven't heard that I think, since your mother was alive." He asks of her.

Maggie speaks up "Daddy, not that one, please."

Hershel changes the choice then "How about uh... 'Parting Glass'?"

Beth shakes her head "No one wants to hear me sing?" she says sheepishly.

"Why don't you sing Sadie?" Daryl quips from where he's standing with Carol behind the group, licking his fingers.

Everyone looks to me, not knowing that I ever sung and I shake my head "no, I'd really like to hear Beth sing that song" I return, looking to the young girl with a smile.

"Alright.." She sighs and begins the song that her father requested. She has a beautiful voice that carries through the wind like a bird chirping in the morning. Her sister joins in, and we all listen peacefully until it's over.

Rick breaks the silence "better all turn in. I'll take watch over there, we've got a big day tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" Glenn asks.

Rick hesitates for a moment. "Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we gotta push just a little bit more." He pauses. I look around at the tired faces and can't imagine us doing much more "most of the walkers are dressed as guards or prisoners, looks like this place fell pretty early. Could mean the supplies may be intact. They have an infirmary, a commissary.

"An armory?" Daryl asks.

"That would be outside the prison itself, but not too far away. Warden's offices would have info on the location. Weapons, food, medicine, this place could be a gold mine!" Even in the dark his eyes light up.

Hershel adds "We're dangerously low on ammo. We'll run out before we make a dent."

"That's why we gotta go in there. Hand to hand. After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it." No one answers though, and the sparks from the fire is all we hear. He tilts his head down towards his son "these assholes don't stand a chance." He leaves the group to take watch, Lori following after him.


	2. Chapter 2: Home Unsweet Home

The next morning everyone gets ready. Rick, Daryl, T-dog, Glenn, and Maggie are going in to take down the dead in the courtyard of the jail. They form a circle, shoulder to shoulder. I open the door for them and they go in quickly. T-Dog enters first and stabs a walker, Daryl, Rick, Maggie and Glenn enter after and they all take a step or two forward to kill and return to the group. While they work together to take down what's in there, we try and help by getting the attention of how ever many we can and take them down through the fence. Rick shouts to his group, but we all hear it "Almost there!" They walk around. Suddenly they hidden behind a wall before entering the next part of the courtyard.

"I can't see them." I say out loud. I ask Lori and Carol next to me "Can you see them?"

"Back there." Carol responds not pointing anywhere though. We wait, still trying to grab the attention of a few lingering near us. After they kill them we hold our breaths to see the others again. They all pile out disheveled and bloodier then before but they are all intact. They start to walk back but Rick stops them and they have a short discussion. Afterwards, they head inside one of the doors. A few more minutes pass and Glenn comes out to get us.

"What do you think?" Rick says once everyone is inside the newly empties cell block.

Glenn breathes out "home sweet home"

"For the time being." Rick adds.

Lori asks, looking around "it's secure?"

"This cell block is." Rick smiles back pridefully, as he should be.

"What about the rest of the prison?" I ask, worried others might get in and ruin this little victory for us.

Rick nods "In the morning we'll find the cafeteria, and the infirmary. One room at a time."

"We'll sleep in the cells?" Beth asks hesitantly eyeing around her.

"I found the keys on some guards. Daryl has a set too." Rick explains looking over to his right hand man.

"I ain't sleeping in no cage." Daryl spits out in return, "I'll take the perch." and just like that he walks off. Everyone else begins to pander out as well, finding somewhere to call their own. They all go looking for cells to settle in. Carol & Lori are bunking together and Maggie is with Glenn, so I decide to stay with Beth. She's a pleasant girl to be around and seems okay with me around since the incident at the farm.

After sitting for awhile outside the cell I set up in, Carol comes out of the cell she's in "what's up?" I ask her, concerned about the worried look on her face as she gets closer to me.

"Lori's worried" she tells me in a hushed voice before going off.

I push off my knees and stand, walking into her cell "come in" she holds out her hand for me to take and I do. I sit next to her on the bed as she tries to hold back tears. Hershel comes in soon after and sits across from us. "It's the baby, I think I lost it." Lori explains to him.

"You haven't felt it move? Kick?" I ask her. I never worked the maternity level while I tempt, but I would hear heartbreaking stories from nurses.

"Nothing. And no Braxton-Hicks." She wipes her face. "At first, I thought it was exhaustion and malnutrition."

"You're anemic?" Hershel asks for confirmation.

Lori nods to confirm. She tries to take a deep breathe "if we're all infected, then so is the baby. So what if it's stillborn? What if it's dead inside me right now, what if it rips me apart?"

"Stop." Hershel puts his hand on her lap. "Don't let your fear take control of you."

"Okay. Let's say it lives, and I die during childbirth..." she goes to say

I interrupt her right there "that's not going to happen."

"Why not?" She asks looking at me "how many women died in childbirth before modern medicine?" she lets the question linger for a moment. "If I come back, what if I attack it? Or you, Rick, Carl... If I do, if there is any chance," she pauses trying to get the words out "you put me down immediately, you don't hesitate!" Her tears aren't enough anymore and she begins to cry "Me, the baby, if we're walkers, you don't hesitate, and you don't try to save us! Okay?" She looks to Hershel and he nods in return. "It might have been better if..." She exhales sharply.

"If what?" I pose to her.

"If I'd never made it off the farm." She answers shaking.

"You're exhausted, frightened" Hershel explains her irrationality.

She agrees "yeah, that's true. My son can't stand me. And my husband, after what I put him through." Her head shakes, and I see the resentment she has for herself in her eyes, something I know all to well about.

"We've all been carrying that weight." Hershel adds to calm her.

"All winter." I say on to that.

Lori doesn't stop though "I tried to talk to him. He..." but gets interrupted.

"He'll come around." Hershel says.

"He hates me." She gets out. "He's too good a man to say it, but... I know. I put him and Shane at odds, I put that knife in his hands!" her tears begin again.

Hershel adjusts in his seat "you know who doesn't give a shit about that? This baby." Both Lori and I chuckle "Now let's make sure everything's alright." and he tells her to lay back.

After Hershel has checked her over, and can't find anything wrong he leaves the cell. Lori sits up, still sniffling. I go to leave but she calls me back "Sadie.." her voice is in a whisper.. I turn at the cell entrees nice and wait "if I.. if I don't make it.." she pauses, holding back tears.

"You will make.." I try to argue but she stops me.

"Let me say this.." She looks at me now, tears gone. "If I don't make it.. You need to help Rick with this baby.."

"Lori" I sigh, sitting where Hershel was a minute ago "Rick doesn't need me, he needs you. And you will be there for this baby, for your family.." I encourage her.

She nods her head as if she knows I'm right "I know.. but I need to know that if something happens to me.. they'll have someone to come too.." She looks to me, her brown eyes pleading.

"okay" I whisper back to her.

She grabs me in a for a hug and squeezes tightly "thank you" she says into my ear before letting me go.

Carol, Beth and I help the group moving into the jail gear up. I help Maggie put on a vest and we tighten up T-dogs before they go. Rick tells Carl he has to stay behind, in case something happens to them and he nods in understanding. They pile out of the cell block and we shut the door behind them.

A few of us work at cleaning the walls from old blood and hear shouting out of the cell block. "Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!" Rick shouts out "open the door!" He yells as they get closer, someone on a gerny type thing being rolled with them. "It's Hershel!" He shots "Carl, come on!" He yells at his son who has a set of keys.

He gets the door open and they wheel him in, blood everywhere "Oh, my god!" Carol says as they pass us.

"Daddy!" Beth cries out for her father.

"Go, go, go, go! In there!" Rick shouts, pointing to a cell. A lot of us pile into the small cell "get him on the bed!" Rick demands. I go around to grab his shoulder, something familiar I've helped with "he got bit." Rick explains as we gather around.

Beth cries "Oh, my god, he's gonna turn!"

Lori asks him "did you cut it off?" and Rick confirms. "Maybe you got it in time." She offers to him and to Beth.

"Ready?" I count out taking the lead "Okay. One, two, three!" Carol, Glenn, Rick and I carry Hershel to the bed.

"Oh, God!" Lori gasps out in a sigh.

I push people aside and look at the wound "Ok, I need bandages!" I yell out to everyone in the room

Glenn returns to me "we used everything we had!"

"Well, get more! Anything sanitary will do!" I shout back removing what's already there besides the first layer.

Lori directs Carl to get the towels by her bed. Beth fears the worst "Is he gonna die?"

"No, no, no, he's gonna be okay." Lori holds Beth as she cries in her arms.

Rick leans down over my shoulder "you think you can stabilize him?"

I don't take my eyes off the wound, trying to find the main bleed to block off. "I need to keep his leg elevated. Keep as much blood in." I say loudly. "Get some pillows!" I explain.

Maggie cries out "he's already bled through the sheets!"

Glenn offers an idea "we can burn the wound to clot the blood. Like Merle did" He remembers. "I can start a fire."

"Oh, god, no please don't do this!" Beth begs in the cell.

"No" I respond back "the shock could kill him. It's not gonna stop the arteries from bleeding. We need to keep it dressed and let it heal on its own. I work as fast as I can to bound his wound, looking through the blood for anything worse to be aware of.

As we go through sheets and binding there's a commotion outside the cell block "what's that?" Beth asks worried.

Rick explains "Prisoners, survivors. It's alright, everybody stay put." He directs before leaving us to work on Hershel.

"He's passed out, we need to make sure he doesn't get a fever. This needs to be wet and put under his armpits and on his head" I rip off a piece of the sheet that's clean and hold it out for someone to take. Lori nods, taking it from my hand and exiting the room. She returns shortly after and her and Beth place it where I said to.

Lori and I are still trying to slow the flow of blood lose "It has to stop eventually right?" She comments, taking away a used sheet and making room for another.

"It slowed down quite a bit already." I explain back

"If we can get him through this..." Carol starts to say.

Lori interrupts her "when we get him through this." she corrects.

"We'll need crutches." Carol finishes her statement.

"Right now, we could use some antibiotics. Pain killers, some sterile gauze. There's gotta be an infirmary here." I tell both of them as I work. I'm not a nurse or a doctor, but I was around them for some time, he needs more then just sheets.

"If there's one, we'll find it." Carol responds to me with a nod. "You gotta be worried sick about delivering the baby." She asks looking at Lori.

"Look at me. I look worried?" She asks her back, her composure calm.

I look worried?" She asks her back, her composure calm

"You look disgusting." Carol retorts.

They both laugh "so do you" she comments back to her. I keep my focus on Hershel, willing myself to save his life.


	3. Chapter 3: A Friend's Help

The bleeding finally stops and I wrap the wound up tightly "are you.. are you okay here?" I ask Beth, her and I the only one's left in the room. She nods with a small smile and I walk out, back to the cell her and I share. I sit on the bed silently, trying to drown myself out with the sound of everyone else around me. I hear the sounds of the cells opening and I get off the bed and head to the cell entry. T-dog and Rick walk in carrying supplies of food "We got food!" T-dog yells out. Carl asks him what he has and he starts to list off things.

The overwhelming sensation of blood covering my body encases me and I run to the gate before they lock it "Sadie, Stop!" Rick calls after me but I'm already pushing past the prisoners and Daryl as they enter the joining space. "Daryl, go!" I hear him direct. He says something more but I'm out the main door. I need to get this blood of of me now, and I'll go to the creek on my own to get it done. It's not far and I know the route from when we arrived.

I get to the tied up area of the alleyway and quickly try to undo it and slip out. As I work the knot I'm grabbed from behind "Whoah, Whoah, what are you doin'?" he asks me, jerking me away from the wall.

He swings me to the other side of the fence and eyes me strangely "I need to go! I need to get out of here" I breath out, trying to push past him and work at the wires again.

"You're not going anywhere" he says pushing me back.

I pound my fists against his chest with force "Get out of my way! I need to go! I can't, I can't have this blood on me.. please!" I plead still fighting him and trying to get by.

"iight. Calm down!" He keeps gently pushing me back against the other side of the fence. "Yo, c'mere!" His hands waves at someone behind me to come closer. Carl comes down from the field and Daryl yells out to him half way "I'ma make a run to the creek.. She's freakin' out. We'll be back soon!" He explains to him so he can inform the others.

Carl responds "gotcha" back to him with a nod and runs back towards the jail.

Daryl turns away from me and starts to kill some of the walkers that have gathered because of my shouting "you gon' make me do all the work?" he scowls eyeing the wire. I move up to the fence and work again to untie it, my hands still shaking. After we slip out and tie the fence back up he guides me back to the creek.

As soon as I see the creek I run at it with full force. I plunge my feet into it and sit on a rock, dipping my arms and hands into it and scrubbing at the blood that stains my skin. I scrub as hard as I can to get it all off of me. Finally, I can't see the deep red stain of it and it's just a light pink and I begin to slow down, feeling the raw sensation on my arms.

"What was that all about?" Daryl asks me, sitting across from where I am.

I eye him as I work to clean under my fingernails "what's it to you anyway" I quip back annoyed at him.

"I'm here, ain't I?" He retorts back.

I sigh, feeling like he's right. "What if he doesn't pull through?" I look up to him "What if he dies?" I ask him what's bothering me.

"Then he dies." He shrugs "but he won't, because you stopped the bleeding, you don' good" he tells me.

I roll my eyes "I didn't do anything Lori or Carol couldn't have done. Besides, if he dies it's on my hands.." I look at mine when I say this, clenching them together as I do. The tears begin to fall and I shake my head "I can't do this. I can't have his death on my hands, it's all too much" I say in a whisper, chocking on the words.

Daryl stands up, moving next to me on another rock "yanno, someone once told me it's nothing to worry about, you didn't plan out his death." I look up to him through my tears, remembering saying that to him about Dale. "Besides" he nudges me with his elbow "he aint dead and he won't die" his country accent thicker then it has been before. I smile back at him and he leans in just a little. His arm opens for a side hug and I reluctantly agree. He's been such a jerk lately, but I want him to know I would still like to be his friend. "C'mere" he says after we let go. I raise my eyebrows not sure what he wants as his hand is now in the water "ya got some on yer face." He takes his thumb and rubs around my cheek with it to get off the blood.

Eventually his finger stops rubbing and it just rests on my face. He stares at me with something in his eyes I can't place and my stomach turns "Daryl" I whisper to him, my heart beating fast.

He blinks quickly, coming back from whatever reality he was in and his hand goes to his side quickly "ready?" He asks "don' wanna be here all day" he gets up.

"Ya, I'm ready" I return following him as he begins to walk me back to camp.

We get back into the jail cell and Rick is still in the joining area with the prisoners they found. As we get to the locked door T-dog comes to open it "Whose this lovely punta?" One of the men with a neck tattoo asks as I walk by.

I ignore him but he reaches out to grab my arm and pulls at me. Rick, Daryl & T-dog all have their weapons out as he puts the end of a gun to my head "listen here, you gonna give us your weapons, and our cell block. Or this gringo gets one through the dome" he spits while talking, pulling down on the gun to prove he's not bluffing.

"Let me put one through em Rick" Daryl mumbles from where he stands.

"No" Rick denies the request.

"Right through the ear. Clean Shot!" Daryl argues back, his voice shaken.

"NO!" Rick shouts and my eyes are only on him. T-dog and Daryl are on the sides. Rick nods his head slowly once, putting his gun back in the holster "look besides you, you got 2 drawn.. there is no other option then to let her go." the man coifs back "we will still help clear out another cell block, only if you let her go.. now!" Rick demands.

I strain my head, trying to pull it away from the barrel of the gun as the man ponders his options. The other prisoners try to talk to him, to accept our help and let me go. He pushes me forward and onto the table in the room "well what are we waitin' for then" he says with all eyes on him.

Rick comes to my side first, grabbing a hold of my elbow "are you okay?" He asks looking into my eyes.

"I'm fine" I say to him then looking at T-dog and Daryl, assuring them I'm okay. T-dog walks me to the other cell door and lets me in our cell block, before closing themselves back in with the prisoners.

I find the others in Hershel's cell, waiting for him to regain consciousness. As we sit there, the sound to a door clammers shut and Glenn peaks his head out "thought you were organizing the food." he says to whoever it is.

"Even better!" He walks in smiling "check it out!" He plops a bag in front of us.

Carol and Lori open it and we all gasp at the medical supplies within it!

Lori grabs some, opening the gauze to bind Hershel's wound properly "where did you get this?" She asks him.

Carl beams "found the infirmary. Wasn't much left, but I cleared it out!" He informs us all.

Carol and Maggie put new bandages on, looking at me wondering if I want to do it. I nod to them assuring they are doing fine and they continue. Lori questions Carol "you went by yourself?"

Carl: Yeah. Lori and Maggie look at him, they are shocked. Lori: Are you crazy?

Carol responds "no big deal, I killed two walkers!"

"Alright," Lori breathes out, she eyes Hershel "do you see this?" She brings her attention back to her son "this was with the whole group!" her voice raises from fear of losing him.

Carl argues with her "we needed supplies, so I got them!"

"I appreciate that, but..." Lori tries to say, but she's interuppted.

"then get off my back!" her young son snaps at her.

"Carl!" Beth scolds him "she's your mother, you can't talk to her like that!" He pauses looking at her, as if somehow Hershel being on the that bed means something between him and his mother.

"Listen," she breaths "I think it's great that you want to help but.." but before she could finish Carl runs out of the cell, not wanting to hear what she has to say.

"It's alright" I console her, putting my hand on her shoulder "he'll come around." she just nods, not believing it but giving me what I tried for.

" she just nods, not believing it but giving me what I tried for


	4. Chapter 4: From Within

"Help! Help!" We hear screaming. I recognize it as Beth's and run into the room. "Do somethin'!" She cries at her father's bedside.

Lori is already in there "he's not breathing!" She gasps out.

I push Beth aside "I'll start compressions, you do mouth to mouth! 1. 2. 3. Breath!" I get going. Nothing happens and we continue "1. 2. 3. Breathe!" we go again and he's still not breathing. "1. 2. 3. Breathe!" she goes again. This time Hershel's arms flail and grab Lori by the head. Me and his daughters yank at her to get her away, not sure if has turned or not. We get her out, his eyes open for a moment before his head hits the pillow again and he snores softly. The 4 of us huddled together in a corner, while Carl has the gun pointed at him, ready to save us all.

Everyone in the group, except Carl, comes together to wait and see what happens with Hershel. When Rick walks in, Lori informs him that he still doesn't have a fever, a good sign. We all wait quietly together. As we do, a gurgle comes out of the man's mouth. We all start to eye one another as Beth and Maggie get closer with hope. It doesn't happen again and our hope turns to fear. The fear is replaced though as he opens his eyes slowly. He reaches his arm up and looks to Rick after seeing his daughters there at his side. Rick kneels down next to him as they connect hands. We all smile to one another, happy he survived.

I leave Hershel and his family be and go back to the cell

I leave Hershel and his family be and go back to the cell. I enjoy it to myself that night, as Beth stayed at her fathers side, making sure he was comfortable and alright. The next day, I help the others out in the courtyard. I drive up one of the trucks as Rick instructed me too and meet T-dog, Daryl, Carol and him near the turned over bus. "Alright, let's get the other cars in." he says now "we'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard."

"Good. Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant "vacancy" sign!" Daryl snarls.

"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn them." Rick looks around at the yard.

T-Dog comments more to himself then us "it's gonna be a long day.."

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Carol asks looking at all of us.

I add on "yea, we could sure use some help."

Daryl informs us "up in the guard tower."

"Guard tower? They were just up there last night!" Rick responds as we all look up to it.

Daryl calls out to them. "Hey! What's up guys?" Glenn asks when he emerges from the door. His shirt is off and he's buttoning his pants.

We all laugh when we see him, Daryl yells out "You comin'?" and we laugh some more.

"What?" Glenn calls back, either not hearing or not understanding the joke.

"You comin'?" Daryl asks again. We laugh some more before he adds on "come on, we could use a hand!"

"Yeah, we'll be right down!" Glenn calls back turning to Maggie inside

"Yeah, we'll be right down!" Glenn calls back turning to Maggie inside. We turn back to get to work on the cars and the bodies.

"Hey Rick!" T-dog nods his head up and away from the courtyard.

Rick stops for a moment when he sees the two prisoners Axel and Oscar out of the cell block they helped clear our. He begins walking towards them, the rest of us following him. He goes to see them. "That's close enough." He tells the prisoners at the gate "we had an agreement."

The smaller man, Axel speaks back "please, mister. We know that, we made a deal." Glenn and Maggie come out of the tower now, staying behind them "but you gotta understand! We can't live in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies, people we knew! Blood, brains everywhere! There's ghosts!"

"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl spits back.

"You should be burning them." T-dog adds.

Axel spits back "we tried! We did!"

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison." The other man Oscar adds on "every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. So we just dump a body and just run back inside. Axel

Axel moves a bit closer to Rick "look! We had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew, nothing! You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be a part of your group, just, please, please, don't make us live in that place!"

"Our deal is not negotiable." Rick says back, his body tense with emotion. "You either live in your cell block, or you leave."

Oscar mutters to Axel "I told you this was a waste of time. They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys." His attention back to Rick "you know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out like.." he trails "Those were good guys! Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint like Thomas and Andrew." He continues on "now, we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief, and I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me, we paid our due. Enough that we would rather hit that road, than to go back into that shithole."

Rick turns his head behind him to look at Daryl who gives a firm but subtle no head shake. Rick just steps closer to the men, without words, to them it's not going to happen. Daryl pulls up his bow and arrow and takes them the rest of the way. I follow behind to lock it shut as he keeps the bow trained. We walk back to the group as Rick says something T-dog "Are you serious? You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons, you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"

T-Dog responds with a valid point "I never stopped. Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves."

"I don't know, Axel seems a little unstable." Glenn comments.

Carol adds on as well "after all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?"

"It's just been us for so long... They're strangers." She says "I don't... it feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around."

"You brought us in." T-dog argues to her.

"Yeah, but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us a choice." Maggie corrects his notion.

Glenn adds "they can't even kill walkers!"

"They're convicts, bottom line!" Carol gets out.

"I'm not saying I'm agreeing either way.." I say biting my lip before saying what I want to next "those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do." I shrug.

"I get guys like this." Daryl speaks up now "hell, I grew up with them. They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys."

"So you with me?" T-dog asks him, happy for an ally.

Daryl spits back "hell no! Let 'em take their chances out on the road, just like we did!

"What I'm saying, Daryl.." T-dog tries to say.

Rick interrupts him "When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid. Nineteen years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during the interrogation, during the trial, suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence, and 2 weeks later shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands."

We leave the men locked behind a gate as Carol gets some supplies together for them to take on the road. When it's all ready, Glenn brings it to them and we continue at our work. T-dog and I bring more of the trucks inside the gates. We bring two of the cars to the spot for an escape route when we hear gunshots. We get out of the cars quickly and the walkers from behind another part of the jail were released! A loud noise blares from all around, a siren. I run to a door to get inside as T-dog works a fence. I open the door and turn to yell for him when he screams out. A walker bites him in the shoulder, blood spurting out of the wound. "NOOOO!" I yell back. He punches it off and when it falls he shoots it with the last bullet in his gun. He throws it down on the ground and I yell out to him"Hurry!" I say back to him as the walkers close in on us. We get inside and run for safety, looking for anywhere to lay low. We walk through the dark, T-dog leaning against me for support. We're almost to the door outside as two of them round the corner "Turn back!" I try and move but he stops me.

"We're almost there!" He says back to me before using all of his strength and storming the two of them against the wall

"We're almost there!" He says back to me before using all of his strength and storming the two of them against the wall. " GO!" He shouts back. I'm startled for a moment but move towards them "I'm dead! GO!" He says as I pass him. I give him one last look as they bite into his body and leave the dark hallway.

I find myself down another corridor, looking to make my way back to our block. Luckily I haven't come across any other walkers and I pray it stays that way. I turn a corner, hoping for another way out but it's just more dark. As I walk down the hall a few of the walkers turns the corner I'm headed towards. I turn to go back the way I came but one is stumbling from there, possibly hidden earlier and drawn out from the noise. I open a door to one of walkers in it. I push it out of there, needing to stay hidden and close it at it reaches for me. I feel around the dark closet, making sure there's nothing in here to surprise me and feel comfortable for now to breath. Time passes slowly as I wait, the walkers still banging on the door.


	5. Chapter 5: Damsel in Distress

The sound of them banging against the door has stopped and I try and push it open to get out but something is blocking it. My mind flashes back to the hospital when I was with Rick in a similar situation. I feel defeated remembering I was only able to get out with his help. Even then, my body was stronger then it is now and I'd be lucky to even budge this thing enough to get my leg through. I decide to keep pushing at it, hoping someone comes looking for us. Us, T-dog and I. If I do get found, I get to break the sad news to everyone. It's just me here. He furthered his death so I can live, and if he wasn't so selfless I may have died in the process. I start to loathe myself, thinking of all the people I've hurt. The door to the little room springs open and I'm partially blinded by the light. A rough hand soon comes to my face, turning it forward and I recognize him "Daryl" I whisper out, my mouth dry with thirst. He scoops me up off the floor and leaves the old closet.

He places me on a bunk and I sit back against the wall, I grab some water from an old bottle and chug it down as he leaves the room

He places me on a bunk and I sit back against the wall, I grab some water from an old bottle and chug it down as he leaves the room. A few moments pass and Rick comes to the door. His eyes glimmer with something "Oh. Thank God!" He smiles softly and moves into the cell towards me for a hug. I hug him in return, happy he's here and alright, happy they are all here and alright "Thank God" he says again, burying his head into my shoulder and holding me tightly.

He lets me go and moves aside slightly, Hershel crutches a step forward to the bed and I lean in to hug him as well "how?" he asks as I hug.

"Poor thing fought her way into a cell" Daryl responds for me. I let go of Hershel and look at him with kindness "must have passed out, dehydrated." he adds.

My eyes flutter to Beth and Carol behind her and I see the little thing wrapped in her arms! My heart warms at the sight and a smile crosses my face as I stand to see it closer. I look to Rick, wondering about Lori. His faces says everything the instant they meet my eyes. Tears fall from both our eyes "I'm sorry" I whisper to him, grabbing a hold of his face. "Oh, God" I cry, turning back to the baby. "Can I?" I ask Beth, now standing by the door. She nods and hands her over to me. I rock the already sleeping baby in my arms "Hi princess" I coo to her.

I wait outside the prison with the others, most of them packing up the car to go after Glenn and Maggie. Beth informed me that a women came to the prison around the time Daryl found me, she had baby supplies with her. She informed us that Maggie and Glenn were taken to a town called Mayberry, run by someone named the governor. She doesn't know much else. I coo the baby with a song, the only one I can think of at that moment.

"Are you there, are you watching me? As I lie here on this floor.

They save, you feel what I do, they say you're here.. every moment."

Daryl comes up behind me, hand on my shoulder "stay safe" he tells me "princess" he adds on with a wink before walking off

Daryl comes up behind me, hand on my shoulder "stay safe" he tells me "princess" he adds on with a wink before walking off.

"Hey.." I call out to him and he turns "find me when you get back?" I nod to him, waiting for assurance that he will. He nods in return and gets in the car.

The day turns to night quickly, and we wait in the cell block for their return. Carol and Axel stand guard in the tower and the rest of us hang together watching over Judith. "Finally got Judith to sleep." Hershel comes into the main area were we sit.

"How are we with formula?" I ask, worried for the little one.

"We have enough to last us another month." He informs us.

Carl pauses what he's doing "i'll take Carol for some more at the end of the week."

"Your dad and the others will be back by then." Beth says with some pep in her voice. It may just be for Carl's benefit, but she's usually optimistic anyway. I put my hand on her back, assuring her she's right about that.

"We don't know that." Carl responds lowly. "Right now, Judith is the only family I got." He adds.

A scream echoes through the jail "what was that?" Beth asks worrying.

I say after her, letting them know what I know "that was from inside."

"Was that Carol?" Beth asks.

Hershel tells us "she's out keeping watch in the guard tower with Axel."

"What if they came back in for something? What if they're in trouble?" Beth questions.

"Let's check the tower, see if she's there." Hershel says calmly.

I ask "How could anyone else get in?"

"The tombs are filled with walkers that wandered in from outside. Someone else could have done the same thing." Hershel explains.

Carl stands "I'm going."

Hershel blocks him with one of his crutches "I can't let you go down there."

"My father would go." Carl stares him in the eyes. Hershel reluctantly lowers the crutch.

"I'll check the tower" I follow Carl out of the cell block and we split directions.

After informing Carol and Axel what happened, I go back into the prison. As I get inside with Beth and Hershel, I hear the sounds of more people. Carl comes back with 5 others. One of the men places a women on the ground, her arm obviously bitten into. Another man weeps over her and Carl cocks his gun "first things first" but the man stops him.

Another man weeps over her and Carl cocks his gun "first things first" but the man stops him

"No" I hear him explain "we take care of our own." Carl nods and he lowers his weapon. He walks back in where we are and closes the door as the man raises his hand to take care of the women.

"No, Tyreese!" one pretests back.

"I gotta do it" He responds. "Look, just take Ben and lean against the wall. It'll be quick."

"Hey, what are you doing?" The women asks before coming to the locked gate.

"Kid, did you just lock us in here?" The man with the hammer, Tyreese asks.

"Open the door." The women comes to the gate.

"This room is secure. You'll be safe." I inform them as gently as I can.

Carl adds on "you have food and water."

"Open this door." the women bangs against it with anger.

"I can't." Carl responds.

"Come on, man. We're not animals. Don't do this." The women protests "Hey! You can't just leave us in here! Open this door! Open it! Now!" Her anger continues and she bangs against it loudly.

"Sasha!" The man pulls her away from it "back away from their door and let the man go." He pauses "look around you. This is the best we've had it in weeks. His house." He turns to the women on the ground "we got other things to do." His attention is back on Carl "we don't want any trouble."

"Shouldn't we help them?" Beth asks lowly.

Carl tells her "I did."

Some time passes before we decide to go in and talk with them. Hershel leads, tending to their wounds. He wants me to watch as he stitches, to learn more for the future. "You can take those stitches out yourself in a week or so." He explains, grabbing his crutches and leaving me to wrap it up.

"Thank you." He replies.

The man, Tyreese comments to us "pretty nice having medical training."

Hershel responds "It'll only get you so far."

He asks Hershel while nodding towards his leg "you were bit?" and Hershel just nods in return.

Beth walks in with Judith, getting ready to feed her again "how old is the baby?" The women, Sasha asks, getting up to see her.

I get nervous and also walk to Beth, standing next to her, pretending to help "barely a week." I say back.

"to be honest, we never thought we'd see another baby." Sasha says with a small smile looking at her. "Beautiful." Beth thanks her, prompting Sasha to ask "how are you feeling?"

Beth grows red, looking at her and the others "she's not mine." her head shakes.

"where's the mother?" She asks us. No one answers, letting silence fill her in "I'm sorry." she adds.

"Man, you people have been through the mill." Tyreese comments. We all begin to head back into our living space, letting them eat together.

"haven't we all?" Hershel says back.

"It's only getting worse out there." Tyreese says, grabbing our attention "dead are everywhere. And it's only making the living less like the living."

"You're the only decent folks we've come across." Sasha adds on.

"You've been out there all this time?" I ask them curious. They seem like survivors, people we may want with us as our group has thinned.

"Our neighbor Jerry, he was one of those survivalist nuts. Everybody on the block thought he was crazy. Always preparing for the end of the world." Tyreese explains.

"Who knew?" Hershel adds.

"Jerry knew." he says back quickly "he had a bunker under his shed in the backyard. Sasha and I stayed there until we ran out of supplies." He then looks to the other two "Allen and Ben were the first two people we ran into when we finally crawled up out of that hole around Jacksonville. Used to be a bunch of us. 25 at one point."

Sasha says sadly "our camp was overrun six, seven weeks ago."

Tyreese says "and- and Donna, she, uh..." he trails off.

"we'll see that she has a proper burial." Hershel tells them kindly.

"I appreciate you taking care of us. For a while, we didn't know who we were dealing with." Tyreese says towards us.

Hershel heads out of the room now "neither did we." I say back.

"We've had our problems with people. I must be the first brother in history to break into prison." Tyreese jokes.

Axel jokes back "makes me the first white boy that didn't want to break out."

"Like I said, we have a much larger group." Hershel comments at the gate now "a close-knit group. I wouldn't get too comfortable here."

"We wouldn't be a problem." Tyreese informs him.

"It's not up to me." Hershel responds.

"Then who?" But Hershel just walks away, Carl closing the door behind us. "Please, you can see what kind of people we are." But none of us respond.


	6. Chapter 6: Left Behind

I wait outside with Carl and Carol, enjoying the fresh air "it's so quiet" I comment, leaning against the tower.

"It's easy to forget how loud the world used to be." Carol adds to my comment "I used to complain about it all the time."

"Traffic, construction" I list off things that use to be so annoying

"car alarms, noise pollution." Carol adds on "ohhh" she chuckles "what I wouldn't give for the sweet sound of a jumbo jet."

Carl doesn't laugh with us "it'd be even sweeter if we were all on it."

Carol looks to me and I shrug, not knowing what to say back "your mom was proud of you" she says to him, her motherly instinct kicking in.

"For what?" he spits back "being mean to her?"

Carol step closer to him "no, you can't think about that."

"It's all I think about." he responds, his eyes dropping.

"She didn't, not once.." I add on to try and assure him.

We hear the sound of rocks being kicked around and see a car from a distance getting closer "please be them." Carol hums out.

Carl notices first "It's them. Hurry." he says. I open the first gate as he goes to the next, Carol taking care of walkers getting closer.

Rick gets out "Drive 'em up. I'll meet you there" The car begins to pull out and we all look to see who's inside.

"Where's Daryl?" I ask, not seeing him inside.

"It's all right. He's alive." Rick comes over to me, Carl now at my side "we ran into his brother. They went off."

"He left?" Carol asks.

My heart sinks "Daryl left? He's gone?" I plead with him to be joking.

"Is he coming back?" Carol asks as I try to hold back my tears.

"Hey" Rick says grabbing a hold of me for a hug. We begin to walk back up to the jail when Carl's done locking the gate.

"Gone?" I ask through closed teeth, Rick just pulls me in closer to console me.

Carl asks "and Oscar?" But Rick responds with heavy no.

I work with Carol getting together a little make shift crib for Judith. We stand at top the perch where Daryl left the mailbox cart, working to clean it out "you got a knack for that." Carol comments to Beth as she comes up the steps with Judith.

" Carol comments to Beth as she comes up the steps with Judith

Beth replies "just trying to do my part."

Carl tells us about her daughter as a baby "Sophia used to wake the neighbors. 3:00 AM. Like clockwork. Ed stayed at a friend's most nights till she calmed down." she keeps her eyes trained in front of her, folding blankets.

"I always wanted a child." Beth says. "She wouldn't have made it if Daryl hadn't been here. He couldn't stand to lose anyone else."

"Sounds like him." I comment back with a smile.

"I don't see why he had to leave. Merle sounds like a jerk." Beth says.

"Men like Merle get into your head." Carol responds.

I add on "they make you feel like you deserve the abuse." and Carol nods along with me.

"Even for Daryl?" Beth asks.

"I'm hardly the woman I was a year ago, but if Ed walked through that door right now breathing and told me to go with him, I'd like to think I'd tell him to go to hell." Carol says, her eyes filled with wonder.

"You would." I assure, rubbing her back a little.

"We're weak without him." Beth says. I try not to show, but I agree with her. Daryl and Rick are the sole reasons we made it through the winter together.

"We'll get through this, too. Tyreese and his friends seem capable." Carol responds to her.

"I'm pissed at him for leaving." Beth snarls about it.

Carol says to her with a small smirk "Don't be. Daryl has his code."

"This world needs men like that." I add on to them both. We put Judith in the little make shift crib, happy it fits her perfectly for now.

"So what now?" I ask coming down the steps when Judith wakes up from her nap.

"You think the Governor will retaliate?" Carol asks them.

"Yes." Maggie says assured, looking tired and worn down.

Glenn responds "let him try." His face is bruised in yellows and purples, his arm wrapped tightly around Maggie's waist.

"Sounds like he's got a whole town. We're outnumbered and outgunned." Carol tells Rick, worried.

"We could use some reinforcements." Hershel says, referring to the group of people right next to us.

Rick leads us all into the room, we stand in a line as he and Hershel walk closer to them. "I'm Tyreese." the man extends his hand.

Rick doesn't extend and Hershel introduces the others "Sasha, Allen, Ben."

Rick asks "How'd you get in?"

"Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison. Wall's down." Tyreese explains.

Rick adjusts his stance "that side's completely overrun with walkers. How'd you get this far?"

Tyreese says "we didn't. We lost our friend Donna."

"They were lost in the tombs." Carl speaks up next to me.

"You brought them here?" Rick looks back to him with something in his eyes.

"He had no choice." Hershel informs our leader.

Rick addresses them again "I'm sorry about your friend. We know what that's like."

Tyreese speaks "Hershel said you could use some extra hands. We're no stranger to hard work. We'll go out and get our own food, stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group, we'll help with that, too. Anything to contribute."

Rick doesn't answer right away, and I think he's actually thinking it over. His head drops and he gives them a simple "no."

"Please. It's like "10 Little Indians" out there. It's just us now." Sasha pleads back.

Rick confirms his choices, telling us all no again. "Let's talk about this. We can't just keep.." Hershel is the only one who speaks up now.

He gets interrupted " We've been through this. With Tomas, Andrew. Look what happened."

"Axel and Oscar weren't like them." Carol adds reminding him.

"And where's Oscar now? I can't be responsible." Rick says.

"You turn us out, you are responsible." Tyreese says back to him.

Hershel calls Rick over and talks to him quietly. I can't make out much of what they are saying..

Rick sighs out "yea" he adds on after. He puts his hand to his eyes, and glares up at something. "No, no, no, no, no. Why are you here?" he starts to say out loud. He moves the room, not looking at the group. "What do you want from me?"

"Dad? Why are you" Carl tries to talk to his dad.

Rick continues moving, now yelling "No. I can't help you. Get out!" He becomes irrational, looking up behind us all occasionally. "Get- get out!

"Whoa, it's all good." Tyreese and Sasha put their hands up, worried he will do something.

"Hey, easy, Rick. There's no need to.." I move closer to try and clam him.

"You don't belong here!" He yells towards me, pulling the gun out of his holster "Get out! Get out! Get out!"

"You don't belong here!" He yells towards me, pulling the gun out of his holster "Get out! Get out! Get out!"

Tyreese moves backwards with the others "We'll leave. We're going. Okay? Ain't nobody got to get shot here. We're going."

"What are you doing here?!" He yells now facing their small group.

"Okay, we're going." Tyreese says as they head out.

"Just go! Go! Go! Come on, come on." Glenn rushes them out of the room, for their safety.


	7. Chapter 7: Return

I wait in a cell with Judith, trying to hush her through the crying. Gun shots started going off and everyone was either already outside or making their way to help, to fight against the threat. Eventually, they all begin to come back inside dirty and tired. The governor attacked us, killing Axel in the process and bringing walkers into the courtyard once already taken back. He crashed a moving truck through the fence, filled with walkers in the back. Carl comes and takes Judith away from me, and I make my way to the main area, wanting to be there when everyone else gets back in. Rick is one of the last ones to come in, a man behind him that I've never seen before. His hand covered with some sort of knife. The door behind him shuts and then man moves just as Daryl turns around. I run to him, stringing both arms around his neck, squeezing with everything in me "thank God!" I breath into his ear.

He hugs me back with one arm while the man I don't know comments "someone's gotta himself a ball and chain" I ignore him, not caring about anything but that he's here again and safe. I assume then this is Daryl's brother, Merle.

"Shut up" Daryl retorts back over his shoulder to the tall man once I let go. He begins walking in where everyone else is, keeping his hand on my elbow to tell me to come along and stay by his side.

The man makes kisses noises towards me as I pass him, Rick shuts the cell block with him away from all of us and Daryl goes up to his perch. I turn to Rick, giving him a hug as well "everything okay?" I ask, knowing only what Carl told me. Rick nods returning the hug gently and I step away, standing next to Carol, whose visibly shaking.

"We're not leaving." Rick informs us as we all come together to discuss things.

"We can't stay here. What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds." Maggie comments up top of the cell.

Beth adds on "We can't even go outside."

"Not in the daylight." Carol adds on.

"Rick says we're not running, we're not running." Glenn disagrees with everyone else.

The man, Merle, Daryl's brother speaks from behind the wall he's locked behind "No, better to live like rats."

"You got a better idea?" I spit out to him, already not liking him. I don't care that it's Daryl's brother? He's a dick!

He spits back "Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we?" He adds on, knowing something about the way this governor person works "I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."

Daryl snarls back to his brothers comment "we ain't scared of that prick."

"Y'all should be." Merle informs "that truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."

"Let's put him in the other cell block." Maggie rolls her eyes, not wanting to be near his presence, understandably after hearing what his part in the kidnapping was.

"No. He's got a point." Daryl agrees with his older brother.

Maggie, now standing near her father says back to Merle with anger "this is all you. You started this."

"What difference whose fault it is?" I comment out. "What do we do?"

Hershel restates his opinion "I said we should leave." Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Rick goes to walk away, Hershel stands up quickly, his face red "Get back here!" he yells to him. The rest of us silent. "You're slipping, Rick." He says it out loud, the thing we've all been thinking. "We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."

Rick leaves us to take watch through the upper pathway. The rest of us find things to do, people to talk to. I wait a little while before deciding to go off and find Daryl. I walk into the cell he's been sitting in while he and Carol laugh over something. Carol looks to me and her smile stays. She stands up, kisses him on the forehead and leave us "you wanted to talk to me bout somethin'?" He says sitting up against the wall, placing an arrow on the floor.

I take a seat where Carol just was "ya.." I nod. I breathe slowly, willing the words to come out. As I try to get it out, he sits up further, feet hitting the floor. His eyes wait eagerly for me to say something "I need your help" I say, not sure how else to start.

"With wha?" he asks.

"Killing walkers" I look away, leaning down to pick up the arrow he was just fiddling with.

"You got it" he says back. I look back up to him, happy he's willing to help.

"thank you" I say holding in a grin before standing up to leave.

"Why now?" He asks me before I get out the door. I pause, not turning and try to think of how to answer it. Nothing comes to my mind so I just walk away, leaving it unanswered.

That afternoon Andrea makes it to the prison. As soon as she walks in and gets down the stairs I hug her, the weight of her death lifting off of me now that she's actually here. "After you saved me, we thought you were dead." I say to her. They told me she was in Mayberry but I had to see her to believe it.

She looks around, see's Hershel "Hershel, my God!" she comments seeing his leg "I can't believe this. Where's Shane?" She asks. Rick looks down, shakes his head to tell her he didn't make it "And Lori?" She asks next, her face straining a little. Rick lets her know with the same shake.

"She had a girl, Lori didn't survive" Hershel says it.

Maggie adds on "Neither did T-dog"

"I'm so sorry." she says lowly with sincerity. "Carl." she looks to the young boy. "Rick, I.." she trails off. "You all live here?"

Glenn responds "here and the cell block."

She looks to the other door "there? Well, can I go in?" she walks toward it.

Rick takes a side step "I won't allow that."

"I'm not an enemy, Rick." she says baffled at his response.

Rick argues back "we had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up."

"He said you fired first." She says.

"Well, he's lying." Rick retorts quickly.

Daryl adds "He killed an inmate who survived in here. We liked him. He was one of us."

Andrea's eyes widen with shock "I didn't know anything about that. As soon as I found out, I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out." she looks to Glenn and then Maggie, her face sincere with regret.

"That was days ago." He re-informs her.

She looks to them and then all of us "I told you, I came as soon as I could." She turns to see Michonne and asks her "what have you told them?"

Michone says back, leaning against a cage "nothing."

Andrea opens her arms wide "I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"

Glenn explains "he almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us."

Andrea points to Merle "with his finger on the trigger. Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?" She asks more baffled. "Look, I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."

"There's nothing to work out." Rick tells her "we're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will."

"We can settle this. There is room at Woodbury for all of you." She insists.

Merle pipes in from the corner "you know better than that."

It's silent until Hershel speaks up "what makes you think this man wants to negotiate? Did he say that?"

"No." Andrea admits.

"Then why did you come here?" I ask her.

"Because he's gearing up for war." She looks at me with answer, then to everyone else. "The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack."

Daryl says "I'll tell you what. Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye."

Glenn adds "we've taken too much shit for too long. He wants a war? He's got one." he says gearing up.

"Rick. If you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen." Andrea steps to our leader pleading. "He has a whole town. Look at you. You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."

"You want to make this right, get us inside." Rick tells her with all seriousness.

"No." she shakes her head.

"Then we got nothing to talk about." Rick says back before storming back into our cells, slamming the door shut.

"There are innocent people." She shouts after him.


	8. Chapter 8: A Haunting Memory

"iight, come wit me" Daryl says the next morning. Rick took Michonne and Carl with him on a run, leaving Daryl in charge. Carol is keeping an eye on Merle in the tower as they take watch so Daryl can help me with what I requested him to help with.

We leave the cell block and make our way through a hall way "where are we going?" I ask him. He doesn't answer me and turns a corner. "Daryl, shouldn't we go to the court yard, kill them through the fence?" I ask him, scared of being here again.

"Naw, less yew want your head blown off like Axel.." He says back to me. I don't respond, his reasoning making sense. If the governor has people watching us they can take us out easily. I should feel better about staying in doors, but the last time I roamed these halls I almost died confined in a small room. "First thing we're gonna do is have you do one that's already dead." He says, stopping his feet and turning to me.

"What?" I ask, his statement not making any sense this time.

"You've never stabbed through bone before, have ya?" He asks raising an eyebrow. I shake my head confirming and he nods "well, it ain't like cutting bread.. I got a few here already down, now.." he leans down next to one, the things eyes open and staring at me. "Take this knife, stab it behind the ear." He hands me over a knife.

I reach my hand out to take it and realize I'm shaking. I grab it from him and he moves over a little for me to get the perfect squatting position. "I..I don't know if I can do this.." I sputter out, my other hand grabbing my stomach wanting to hurl my small breakfast back up.

Time passes in silence, Daryl waiting for me to go. He sighs, taking his hand and placing it over mine "I'll help you" he says. He guides my hand completely, using his own strength to stab it behind its ear. I can feel the bone and brain through the handle and cringe as it gets pulled out "now this sucker is dead, so it won't spurt out.." he says letting my hand go and standing to move.

I stand with him, getting to another body and squatting down while keeping back the bile in my throat "now you try it" he says again, this time standing over to watch. I nod and use whatever strength I have to push the knife through its head. I pull it out, and look to him "okay" I exhale slowly, still feeling ill but wanting to put on a brave face in front of him.

He nods with a smirk "good, we'll go for a frontal hit next, use a different knife" he puts his hand out for me to give him that one back. He hands me a machete and I slowly take it, the weight unfamiliar in my arms. "this will take some getting used to, but it's sharp and gets the job done in one hit once you know how to use it." He comes around behind me, lifting my arm up "swing down with your whole arm.." he guides it slowly "increase the momentum as you do, let gravity help you." he helps me 2 more times before letting go "you try" he says standing a little to the side now.

I swing my arm down with some force, not feeling comfortable giving it all I got "like this?" I ask him, hoping I'm doing okay.

He comes behind me again when I stop swinging "bring your shoulder down" he lifts my arm up and adjusts my shoulder for me "the momentum of your core whips your arm and the machete to give it more of a thrust." He swings it now with me "feel that?" He asks, his head near my ear. I nod nervously. "lead with your elbow. That's how you'll get it hit where you want it. Also, flick with your wrist right before you connect with the target." he says showing me with his arm as if he's holding it. I nod back to him, practicing, worrying about everything.

"Let's try it" I say nervously after a few swings of my arm. He nods and positions the body against the wall, easier for me to hit than on the floor. I lift my hand and take a breathe, but I can't lower it. I know this thing wasn't a human anymore, and is already dead, but I can't. I lower my arm and breathe before trying again. This time I swing my arm down fast and hard, the weapon piercing its skull. My arm gets most of the reaction and I drop the machete on the ground, grabbing my arm as it pulses.

"Not bad," Daryl says back with a smirk. "Now, a gun." He takes one out from behind his back "you ever shoot one?" he asks going to hand it to me.

"Not a gun" I shake my head.

"It's the best option we have" he says jutting his hand out further.

I shake my head again "No, I can't shoot a gun" my head shakes faster.

"You asked me here Sadie -Mae. Now ask yourself why?" He says, still leaving his hand out.

I sigh, thinking through the reasons it came to this. "I thought Andrea died to save me.. and T-dog, he sacrificed himself for me... to protect me." I trail off. "If I was able to protect myself maybe I wouldn't feel so ugly, so wrong about being here, about being alive in this world when they're not." I explain out loud.

Daryl steps closer to me, inches away "then take it" his voice is in a hoarse whisper.

I reach my hand out slowly, everything in me shouting against what I'm about to do. I lift the gun out of his hand and my sisters face blurs into my mind, her face stained with tears "I can't, I'm sorry!" I say giving it back to him and running back to the cell block. I run fast, only having to turn 2 corners before I'm back. "Let me in!" I shout out when I'm close "open it, please!"

"Everything okay?" Maggie asks me, coming to the gate to open it for me.

I wipe away the tears with my arm "it's fine" I say back looking to the side as I hustle past her. I go into my cell, glad Beth is off helping with Judith or something and lay my head into the pillow, letting the tears fall out.

I don't come back out of of the cell until dinner. Beth made soup and I grab a small bowl and make my way to find Daryl. He's sitting at his perch, his brother near by when I walk up the stairs and stop a few down before getting to the platform "Give us a minute" He says to his brother.

Merle snarls with a smirk as he gets up "gon' bump uglies right here, right now?" He comments with an eyebrow dance.

"shut up" I roll my eyes as he passes me down the steps. "I'm sorry about running off. It was immature of me to do that" I say to him.

"You gon' tell me what's goin' on?" He asks, picking at the food in his bowl, looking up to me. I stand there, looking away from him, hoping he doesn't really care for me to explain "fine" he says standing up "find someone else to help ya." He walks away into a cell on the upper deck.

"Daryl.." I say when I get to the cell door. He just turns from the corner of the room where he was and stares at me incredulously "fine" I say sitting on the bed and folding my feet Indian style. "You remember Joanna Beth? I mentioned her that time in the woods?" I ask him.

"Ya, your sister." He responds remembering.

I nod "my little sister. Her and I were inseparable growing up." I smile at the memories "we were put into foster care when I was about 7 and she was about 4. My mom had a bad habit with drugs, passed away from an overdose." I shrug telling him. I didn't miss her, she was an awful mother who never should have brought children into the world. "Well the first family to take us in was this really sweet couple. They couldn't have kids of their own. They really wanted my sister but they soon realized she would only be happy if I was there so they took me along with them.. It was a great, they were really lovely people." I think back to the Charleston's. "We were in the process of being adopted by them, she was a teacher and he was a police officer, it wasn't suppose to take long, they were wonderful. Well one day I was out in the front yard playing with my sister when the awful neighborhood boys came along" I snarl, partially blaming them for what happened. "They had this toy gun and were pretend shooting us with it, making fun of us for being orphans. They really nagged on my little sister, she was so young and easily upset. I was so mad at them, I couldn't let them get away with it and I knew where Mr. Charleston kept his gun when he was off duty. It wasn't locked away or anything. It was just out of reach." I explain, my body now fully shaking. I haven't told this story to anyone in a long time, years before the break out even. My heart races as I go on, memories vividly coming back to me "well I got it, and I went back outside to show them, to tell them to stop messing around with us. They started yelling back that it was fake and that I wouldn't hurt them and in the process of us arguing the gun went off." Tears stream down my face as they have done hundreds of times before "I turned to my side and she was lying there on the ground." I keep going, although I feel like nothing I'm saying is actually making sense through my tears "her blue dress stained red.. I run over to her, dropping the gun and hold her head in my hands.. Jo, please Jo.. I begged her to stay with me, her eyes filled with pain. I remember her scream, Mrs. Charelston's.." I say looking to Daryl "it was the most horrific, deadly, saddening shrill I've ever heard.. She rushed over to us, pulling Joanna Beth off the ground and into her arms, weeping along with me. I ran beside her, pulling at her shirt to apologize for what I've done, to say sorry to my sister. She puts her on the couch in the living room and runs to get the phone.. "Why are you cryin' Sadie-Mae?" Jo asked me in a horse whisper when I crawled next to her, grabbing her hand "It'll be alright" she said to me with a smile before closing her eyes." I get out in a full on blubber. Daryl's arms are wrapped around me pulling me in to him. My head lays on his chest as the memory of me killing my sister takes over and my body shuts itself down.


	9. Chapter 9: Seeing Things

My eyes open to a grey bunk above me. I sit up, turning my feet to touch the ground. My eyes feel heavy from crying and everything from the night before floods back to me. I tiptoe out of the cell, not hearing anybody awake below me. I see Daryl asleep on the perch, hand over his bow and I'm relieved I don't have to face him right now.

I go down the stairs, trying to keep the echoes low. Carol rests near the cell door and I sneak into her cell to grab something. Afterwards, I go over to her and shake her awake "can you let me out?" I whisper when her eyes open.

"Where are you going?" She asks.

I stand straight up now when I respond "I can't sleep, was going to clear out some of the bodies from earlier in the hall." I'm sure she figured out by now where Daryl and I went, the place is secure, he made sure of it.

She eyes me curiously but stands up with a yawn to let me out. Both doors open, Merle turning on the ground where he's sleeping in the gathering area as she opens the second gate "thanks" I say back to her when I walk past. I walk slowly to where I was the day before, quickly coming up to the 2 bodies I worked on. I look forward, noticing a few more bodies lying on the ground and make my way over to the next closest body. I stand over it, eyeing it carefully. The man was a guard, his face contorted with rashes and blood, his skin flat and thin, bones obviously noticeable. He's been a walker for a long time.

I pull the gun out of my waistband and point it at its head. I try to control the shaking with my other hand. Time freezes when my finger pulls lightly at the trigger. I release it before it goes off, changing my mind. I lower my hands and turn to head back into the cell block "why are you crying Sadie-Mae?" Her little voice asks me.

"I can't do it Jo." I whisper out loud into the dead air. I know she's not here, but I allow the vision of her to appear to me anyway.

"You can do it. You can be with me.." She says with a smile.

I turn my head to the side "I tried so many times." I sigh back to her.

"I miss you Sadie Sis"she says my nickname.

"I miss you too, Jo" I say back with my head down.

"Join me. I've been waiting so long." She says, stepping closer to me. Her face clear from tears and her dress as blue as the day time sky.

I shake my head "I can't.. I promised.." I trail off, remembering my promise to Daryl that I wouldn't hurt myself.

"But you promised me you'd always take care of me." She says, her dress starting to seep to red.

"I was just a kid, I didn't know." I try to remind her, remind myself.

Now her tears have returned "I was too." She instantly appears in front of me, her small hands under mine with the gun "isn't it time we be together again?" She asks. I nod slowly, understanding what I have to do. My hand reaches upwards, towards my head. My little sister stepping away with a small smile across her face. The tears going away and her dress turning blue again. The tip of the gun rests on my temple now and the only thing holding me back is the fear. "Don't be afraid Sadie-Mae. It will all be over shortly and we'll be together forever" she says to me.

The tears silently roll down my face, dropping onto the floor like raindrops. I stare at her little 4 year old body, and I know this isn't her. This isn't what she would want from me. I shake my head, keeping the gun in place "Joanna Beth, I can't.." I tell her, wanting her to tell me that's okay, that is what she wants.

Instead her eyes turn cold, her body rigid "why did I have to die?" She asks "they wanted me, not you" she snarls angrily at me, my body shaking at her words "no one wanted you! You were selfish!" She yells, her lips turning blue.

"No..no.. I didn't mean to do it.." I argue with her.

"You wanted them all to yourself!" She yells in a high pitch tone "that's why you killed me! You murdered me Sadie-Mae, you murdered me because you always hated me. They loved me more and you couldn't stand that!" She goes on.

"No..no..no!" I yell back, shaking my head as the gun sits there, finger on the trigger.

"Then prove it!" She quips from behind.

I turn my body and point the gun to her. I pull the trigger over and over again, closing my eyes not wanting to see her bleed again. I keep going until I realize there's nothing left in it. I plop down onto to floor and weep "I'm sorry Jo.. I'm sorry" over and over again.

"What the hell are you doing?" Someone is yelling at me. I look up through the tears and see a blurry Carol. She picks up the gun near my legs and stares at me with rage "are you trying to draw attention to us?" I don't answer her and just continue to weep "hello, Sadie.. Anybody there?" She yells with clear annoyance.

"What's going on?" Daryl is next to her with his bow up and ready.

"She used an entire clip on this already dead walker." Carol explains "with my gun!" She snarls in addition.

I look up again to the two of them "she wanted me to kill myself.. But I.. I couldn't do it.."

Carol asks unknowing "who?"

"Jo" I say back still through tears.

"What the hell is going on here?" Carol asks looking at me outraged.

Daryl steps in front of her "I'll take care of this.." He says.

"What do you mean you'll take care of this? Daryl, she just used an entire clip of bullets too-"

He interrupts her "Carol." His arm touches her shoulder "go." He says calmly. She looks at him before looking to me one more time and turning away with a scowl.

"Let's go." he offers me a hand to get up.

I shake, not accepting it "she wanted me to kill myself. I had the gun to my head and everything." I say to him, needing to confide to someone.

He lowers his body and takes a seat across from me "but you didn't do it. Why?" He asks.

"I.. I don't know.." I say to him "she was telling me she missed me, that she wanted us to be together again, but then when I said I couldn't do it and.. and she got so angry. She said I did it on purpose, that I wanted the family all to myself." I shake my head vigorously "I didn't, I didn't though." I defend to him, defend to myself.

"I know" he says, resting a hand on my leg as I sit Indian style "why'd you take Carol's gun?" He asks me next.

"I needed to get over it. I need to be able to shoot." I explain not really knowing why I did it in the first place. "Daryl.." I say looking to him "I'm scared." I tell him when he looks at me.

"Don't be." he says moving closer "I got you" he kisses me on the forehead and holds me in his arms.


	10. Chapter 10: Girl Talk

"so no guns, that's fine." Daryl finally breaks the silence of us sitting there. He lets go and moves against the other side of the wall "I'll show ya how to use a bow" he moves his off the ground and over his shoulder. I nod back, moving hair out of my face "only thing is," he adds on "we gotta do it outside, can't do it here." he looks around "no solid targets."

I sniffle "will Rick be okay with that?"

He shrugs "shouldn't be a problem. Head out of town, take the day for some practice. Look for some supplies while out" he trails off.

"Thanks Daryl" I say with a small smile, feeling a little bit better.

"Don't thank me yet" he says. We look at each other and after a moment we laugh before he helps me stand up and we head back with the others.

"Rick just got back!" Maggie says walking out the cell door when we get there.

"I'll talk with him" Daryl tells me over his shoulder as he walks behind Maggie quickly. I nod back and go into my cell. Beth is there singing to Judith.

I smile, climbing on the top bunk listening. She starts singing "Hey Jude" by the Beatles and I find myself singing along. "Your voice is great!" Beth comments when the song is over.

"Thanks" I mumble back staring at the ceiling.

She stands up from under the bunk "you should sing more often, I think Judith liked it too" she smiles down at the now asleep baby girl. I smile with her and just rest in the quiet of the cell block. It doesn't last long though as Rick and the others return inside, arguing about something.

"We're going tomorrow. That's it. Daryl, Hershel you'll come with me" Rick says to whomever is there. I hop down, excuse myself past Beth and meet them in the joining room.

"I'll go as well." someone says back as I'm walking. I can only assume it's Michonne's voice, someone I haven't spent much time around.

"Naw" Rick responds as I get to where they all are "we need you here, watching over the place" he tells her "keep an eye on Merle." He adds.

She nods back. "where are you going?" I ask them.

"Don you think I should come along witch ya, I know how the govna thinks" Merle spits from where's he standing in the shadows.

"He thinks you're a traitor, and I'm not too sure your not. You stay here" Rick insists.

Daryl adds "he's right, he knows the man more than anybody else" his accent returning more thickly lately now that his brothers been around.

"No" Rick stands behind his words "he stays."

I ask again "where are you going?" Not getting an answer last time.

"Meeting with the Governor tomorrow, going to try and settle this thing." Rick explains to me and the few of us who weren't outside when they returned.

"Is that a good idea?" Beth asks quietly from where she's standing.

Rick shrugs "Andrea said he was willing to talk, we can try and settle this. Move on." He explains to us.

"How?" Maggie asks holding hands with Glenn.

Rick pulls something out of his back pocket and throws it on the round table, most of us going around it to see what it is. "We split areas, one gets west the other east" he says as we look.

I shrug one shoulder "good plan."

"The only plan," Rick returns "I'm not giving up this prison. We're not going anywhere." His voice is low and he means what he says.

"Not without a fight." Daryl returns, standing along side our leader.

Rick addresses the group one more time "it's settled then, tomorrow Daryl, Hershel and I will meet with him. We will go early, scout out the location." He leaves everyone and goes to a cell.

Daryl looks at me and I raise my eyebrows, wondering if he talked to him about us leaving to help me learn to shoot. He jets off towards him, I'm guessing forgetting about mentioning it during the discussion just held. I wait, pacing the room with Maggie to keep my company "I think it'll be good having another bow shot around." she says as I bite my nails.

"I have to learn how first." I say back quickly, nervous Rick won't allow it "probably won't be any good like him" I add.

She smiles softly "who knows? Maybe you'll become the darting Dixon's." I give her a glare and she stammers "what? Are you two the only one's clueless to the chemistry there?" she asks.

"Chemistry?" I spit out "yeah, right. As if Daryl has chemistry with anybody." I joke back

She chuckles "that's true, he's one in his own." she agrees "But really, what is going on with you two?" She asks, stepping closer to whisper.

"Nothing" I say back, curious to why she would even think that.

"Oh, come on Sadie, don't be naive." Maggie insults me with an exaggerated eye roll.

I sigh out "fine," giving into the girl talk "I'm not saying that I like him, but I do trust him, which is more than I can say for a lot of other people." I tell her. She gives me a strange look "Not what I mean, of course I trust you and everyone here, but I trust him differently." I try to explain it but I can't find words to fit exactly what I feel with him.

"Like he's your best friend?" She tries to put it.

I shrug, thinking about it "I wouldn't even consider us friends." I say slowly "Well, I guess I never really thought about it after..." I stop, remembering what happened in the woods after the farm.

Maggie gets closer "after what?" Her eyes glimmer for the gossip. I bite my tongue, not wanting to say anything but at the same time wanting to. "oh come on, you have to tell me! Glenn and I are dying for something interesting to happen around here!" She comments. I raise my eyebrows, trying to hide a smile as if to say 'hello, do you remember what's going on?' She catches on and returns "Oh god" her hand flies to her mouth "not like that" she urges "I'm terrible."

I throw my head back in a small laugh "I know. Well.." I hesitate for a moment "fine. After we left the farm and that whole thing with Rick happened I kind of- well, kissed Daryl" I explain to her. Her eyes beam with delight "but he was not receptive of it and it kind of strained us all winter." I tell her

"Is that why he was an uptight dickwad all winter?" She asks, putting a hand on her hip as if it all makes sense now.

I shrug, not being able to answer it "so things are better since we've been at the jail, but it's not like what you and Glenn have." I tell her "he's just someone I confide in" I put it the only way I know how "about things before all this, yanno?"

"I get it" she smiles back "here he comes" she nods towards the cell door and steps away from me.

I step towards him to find out what Rick said "he's distracted but said we can go off after dealin' with the governor tomorrow" he explains.

"awesome" I say back, eager to learn about shooting.

He eyes me strangely "alright, well see ya later" he says before walking away.

"see ya!" I yell back, he glares over his shoulder with the strange look and I just stand there smiling. I put my head down embarrassed as soon as he turns himself back away. I go look for Maggie to thank her for getting into my head and making me over think us.


	11. Chapter 11: Before The Storm

"Carl, come here." Glenn calls for the young boy. The 3 of the men left in the morning to scout out the location. We've been trying to stay busy, but our nerves keep us all on edge. "You stash these at the loading dock. All right?" He hands some weapons and other supplies to him before he heads off. "Beth, put more up on the catwalk." he directs to the young girl, "if anyone gets pinned down, we need to make sure that they have plenty of ammo. I'll go work on the cage outside." he grabs some tools and goes to leave.

Merle removes his foot from the wall he was resting on "what we should be doing is loading some of this firepower in a truck and paying a visit to the Governor." his accent way more thick than his brothers. "We know where he is right now."

Michonne asks "Are you suggesting that we just go in and kill him?"

Merle snarls back in her direction "Yeah, I am."

I step up "We told Rick and Daryl that we'd stay put." I remind him, wanting to stick to that plan.

"I've changed my mind, sweetheart." he looks at me with something behind his eyes "being on the sideline with my brother out there ain't sittin' right wit me."

Glenn defends the choice "the three of them are right in the middle of it. No idea we're coming. They could get taken hostage or killed. A thousand things could go wrong. And they will." He insists, the rest of us agree.

Carl adds on "my dad can take care of himself."

Merele comments "Sorry, son, but your dad's head could be on a pipe real soon."

Maggie yells across the room "don't say that to him."

Glenn speaks up again "it's not the right move. Not now. Can't take the risk of putting them in the crossfire. That's my decision. It's final." He nods his head to confirm of his choice.

Merle retreats down the stairs, and sits at a table. It doesn't last though, and after some time he gets up to go towards the door "hey, you're not going." Glenn steps in his way.

Merle snarls angrily "I don't need permission."

Glenn stands his grown "I can't let you."

"You can't stop me." He argues back.

"If you're gonna live here with us, it's gonna be on our terms." Glenn responds.

I add on "If Michonne can do it, why can't you?"

"'Cause it's my brother out there, that's why." He spits back to us "what's the matter with y'all?" he asks turning to look whomever is in the room.

"I'm not gonna let you put them in danger." Glenn reassures.

Merle steps just a bit closer to him "nut up already, boy. This guy cops a feel of your woman and you pussy out like this?" he brings up the horrific incident between the governor and Maggie. "Get out of my way." Merle stares him down.

"No." Glenn says back.

"Get out of my way!" He pushes at him, the two of them throwing punches and falling to the ground. Michonne and I quickly spring up to help out Glenn, the larger man could over power Glenn easily. I get to him first, and jump on his back to pull him off. "Get off me bitch!" he spits out, throwing me off like a rag doll. His elbow connects with my face as I fall backward.

Michonne puts her arms around his neck as his are on Glenn's, there grunting and arguing filling the jail with echoes. A gun shot rings through everyone's ears and I turn to see Beth holding one up into the air. She lowers her arm slowly and walks back into the cell block. "Let me go! Let me go!" Merle spits as Glenn grunts out. The fight is over, and the two men go their separate ways.

Rick and the others return before night fall. Once inside, we all wait in the common room for him to tell us what happened. "Wha happen to your cheek?" Daryl asks, seeing the small bruise that had formed.

"Nothin' just ran into a cell door." I lie, not wanting to cause drama between him and his brother. I don't know for sure if it would, but Daryl doesn't seem the type to let any guy hit a girl, his brother included.

Hershel and Daryl stay close by to Rick ready to elaborate if need be on the situation Rick is about to propose. "So, I met this Governor" his mouth twitches when he says the self-given name. He nods his head before continuing, his eyes dark as he stares through us "Sat with him for quite a while."

"Just the two of you?" Merle pipes up.

"Yeah." Rick responds.

"Should have gone when we had the chance, bro." Merle walks to the back of the crowded area.

"He wants the prison" Rick states first "He wants us gone. Dead" he changes it. "He wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury." I look over to Maggie, whose looking at Glenn. Carol has her eyes down and Carl stares at his father. "We're going to war" Rick finally says breaking the silence. I look over to Daryl then, whose looking over to me. He nods his head just slightly, and I know he'll tell me more about the meeting when we go off tomorrow. Rick leaves the room, Hershel following and the rest of us try to move forward with the evening.

During dinner, we open up some of the wine found on the latest run. I decide to have some, knowing this won't come along for the journey if we leave the prison. I poor myself a second glass, finishing it off rather quickly. The conversation in the room is light as we joke about things from our pasts "I once delivered a pizza to a man who came to the door with nothing but a pineapple covering his privates" Glenn chuckles at the memory shaking his head.

"What?!" Maggie laughs loudly as the rest of us do.

He sips from his cup "seriously, and it wasn't even a big pineapple!" He comments. The room ooh's at his words "not like that" he quips back, face turning more red with embarrassment. "Oh, and to top it all of he ordered pizza with pineapple!" His voice gets louder with laughter.

"Man had quiet the relationship with pineapples" Carol chuckles back and we all laugh.

"More?" She offers me another glass. I go to accept but Daryl swipes the cup from where it was resting before she could pour it.

I pout towards him "you've had enough" he says dropping it near his empty glass. He gets up from the table and walks towards the perch. I stand up to follow him and hear Maggie mutter something to Glenn besides her. I shoot daggers at her and she just smirks with a sorry grin.

"Why do you have to be a party pooper?" I ask him, feeling a little light headed as I walk up the stairs behind him.

He sits down and his eyes meet mine. They are serious when he says "if you're going to learn to shoot, you need a clear head. I don't need to be wanderin' around some place unfamiliar with a hung over ray of sunshine."

I want to say something witty back but nothing comes to mind, and I know he's right. I plop down next to him with a "fine" and let my legs dangle off the ledge "got any water?" I ask him, wanting to sober up before going to bed. He passes me a canteen and we listen to the joyful conversation being had below for a bit longer.


	12. Chapter 12: Aim & Shoot

"Hey princess, let's go" Daryl whispers to me across from my cell at the entrance. I sit up from the top bunk and jump down. I grab my socks and shoes from the corner of the room and slip out quietly as to not wake Beth. I sit down on the floor and put my shoes on quietly as Daryl shines a flashlight at me to see. We go outside and I go towards the bike "nuh-uh. We takin' a car" he says going over to the light green one.

I eye him "why are we taking a car?" I question once we are inside. He starts it and drives down to the gate where Glenn comes out of the tower to open for us.

"goin' far enough someplace we haven't hit yet, might get some good supplies." he says while driving out. I nod, understanding now and look out into the night. It's easy to forget what the world is like surrounding us while we drive in the dark. The walkers are visible only when directly in front of the car, and Daryl is easily able to avoid them.

I jolt awake, the car bumping against the road. I look over to Daryl "how long was I out?" I ask rubbing away the crust from my eyes.

"Couple hours, 2 or 3" he says. "You know you snore when you sleep?" He asks.

"I do not!" I argue staring at him in disbelief. His lips twitch into a small smile as he tries not to laugh "I don't!" I push again seriously now.

"no, but you do grind your teeth. Like damn, how does someones teeth even do that!?" He comments.

I laugh "I wish I knew! I've been doing it since I was a kid" I tell him.

He pulls onto a street and makes a few turns, finding somewhere to park. He pulls into a driveway and gets out. There's only a few walkers on the street and he takes down the 2 closest by before walking towards the house "yew gon' take one down?" He asks as I stare at a dead being slowly sauntering towards us.

"No, don't think I'm ready yet" I tell him honestly, fear taking control of me. He bangs on the door to the house and puts his ear to it. Once he's satisfied that it's clear he opens it. The homes on this block are more new than some others we passed "so why here?" I ask from behind him as he looks around corners and behind doors.

The walls, doors, and windows are all intact, and the kitchen is incomplete as a renovation on it was probably happening when the world fell a part. "Only house with a fence" he explains as he walks up the steps to check the top floor. The three bedrooms and bathrooms are clear of any living or dead and we make our way back outside "alright, see that tree?" He points to the largest one between the others at the end of the yard. I nod to tell him I do "that's your main target." He drops his bag on the ground and pulls out a spray can. He walks to the tree and sprays a small target on it. He walks back and picks up the thing I've been eyeing since he got it out of the car. A bow different than his "found this one a few weeks ago, it's an older one but will do for learnin'" he hands it over to me. I stare at the less complex bow and sigh in relief, this is something I can start with. "Stance first" she says coming over to my side "feet should be shoulder width apart" he shows me with his own feet "and toes directly perpendicular to the target." I follow along in those first 2 steps "If you're more comfortable move yer feet closer or farther apart. I go wider, it's sturdier that way" he informs me showing what he means.

"Alright, I'll try that" I say widening my feet out a lot and keeping my toes perpendicular to the tree.

"Ready?" Daryl asks me. I nod telling him he's correct "that will be the hand that holds the bow. How you hold the bow will have an influence on the accuracy of your shots, so try to avoid torquing."

My eyes widen with confusion "torquing?" I question.

"twisting, rotating," he tries to define it easily for me. I nod, pretending to tell him I understand what torque means in reference to the bow. He catches to my lie though and tries to explain it further "if ya put pressure on the bow that ain't directly on the center point of, here" he shows me with his hand on the bow in my hand "will cause torque."

"Alright. I'll try and remember that." I tell him.

"When you hold the bow, the grip will rest in your hand where your thumb meets the center of your palm, try it" he says after I just stand there and try and picture it. I lift the bow up, holding it mainly with my left hand "not bad" he says before coming over and adjusting my hand "there, like that.. it feels uncomfortable now but you'll get used to it." He goes and moves my elbow next, hitting it lightly "that needs to be stiffer" he says. I stiffen my elbow and he taps it again, this time refusing to jolt away as easily "better" he comments. "Your right elbow and forearm will be positioned directly parallel to the bow, like this."he brings my arm up as if I'm about to shoot to show me. I nod, taking note of his direction.

"What's next?" I ask him.

"Well, loosen up a bit, and we'll practice the stance for a while. You need to get comfortable and automatic with it" he explains. I release my arms and lower the bow to my sides. I move my feet a little, ready to try again and get into place. He nods for me to show him and I do my best to get into the stance quickly. We do this for about an hour before he's ready to move on to shooting.

"You're going to have your own kind of release Sadie-Mae. You'll need to practice over and over again until it becomes natural to you." He tells me.

I shake my head "but what the hell is a release?"

He smirks "Ima show you" he pulls at my arm to move me closer to the tree "your gonna shoot from here until you know what a release is" he lets go of my arm.

"What?" I question looking at where I am standing "I'm like 5 feet away from it." I say dumbfounded.

His smile grows "ya but your eyes are gon' be closed"

"are you serious?" I spit out.

"deadly. Let's go, get into position" he demands waiting.

I do as he says, his face now serious. I adjust myself to the position with my feet, slowly moving it until I feel comfortable. Daryl puts the bow into place and hands it to me. "okay, like this?" I ask him.

He shakes his head 'remember your forearm needs to be parallel to the bow." I remember as he says it and adjust it. "iight, close yer eyes and release." he says.

I close my eyes and hear him take a few steps back. My heart raises and I can feel my hands starting to sweat, I nervously let my finger go and the bow gets just a tad lighter as the arrow shoots off. I open my eyes and the arrow is sticking out from a tree "it hit?" I question smiling like a goon.

"Not bad" he says back to me with a small grin on his face as well. It didn't hit the target, not even really close, but it stuck to a tree which made me feel good.

We repeat that for a couple of hours, as time goes by I get more used to the release of my bow and understand what he was talking about "I get it now, I need to know when exactly the bow will be released, pressure and all, right?" I make sure I understand.

"Yup" he says out back to me "and muscle memory. So now we work on aiming, ready?" he nods.

I shrug my shoulders, moving them backwards in a rotation, already getting sore "let's do it" I tell him and he hands over a quiver with bows as I start to shoot for as much practice as I can get.


	13. Chapter 13: Surfaced Emotions

The sun is about to set, and I've gotten okay at hitting the target from 10-15 feet away. My arms and shoulders are sore. What I wouldn't give for a massage right about now I think to myself, but I keep going regardless. "Lets call it" Daryl says picking his bow up off the ground and heading towards the house "ill get us something to eat and then we'll crash here till mornin'" He says while he's walking away.

"One more shot!" I shout back to him. I take a deep breath, bringing the bow back up and into the positioning I've been working on. I close my eyes to focus and open them slowly. I look at the target, but behind it, on the fence, I spot a squirrel. I slowly switch my position and take aim for the little critter. I release my finger and the arrow goes flying. The arrow quickly pierces it through the body and it falls to the ground in a heap! "Oh my God!" I turn around to face Daryl "did you see that?!" I yelp as I run closer to him. His jaw is gaped open a little and when I reach him I throw my arms around him "thank you!" I squeal in delight, my bow already dropped to the ground.

"Holy shit!" He says wrapping his one arm around me. He lifts my feet off the ground just a few inches and swings me around in a half circle, hugging me back "that was great" he says, lowering my feet to the dead grass, his blue eyes staring at me.

"Thank you" I smile back, my heart racing. I don't know if it's from being this close to him, our bodies touching or the adrenaline from getting my first live shot. I don't have time to process through it as his lips are suddenly pushing against mine.

I kiss him back, moving along with his lips as if it's all I've ever wanted to do. It's nothing like that first kiss I pushed on him in the woods. This ones got something behind it. Only, he pulls away too quickly though, and my breath is caught in my lungs "sorry" he says, not moving a part from me though, his face stern. I shake my head to tell him he doesn't have to be, but no words form out of my mouth. His hand reaches to my face and he moves a strand off hair behind my ear "looks like we got somethin' to eat" he smiles just a tad before walking away to grab my arrow and the dead animal. I stand motionless, watching him move as if it's the easiest thing in the world. I stand there like a statue until he comes back, my heart and head wanting to say something to him, to somehow get closer to him again but he just walks past me towards the house.

"You sure someone shouldn't stay up to take watch?" I ask him nervously, looking out the upstairs window. After heating up and eating squirrel meat, Daryl went to look for some supplies in the other houses. I stayed behind and set up a room for us to crash in with the sleeping bags and whatever else we brought from the prison.

He shakes his head, laying on the floor and getting under the blanket, his arrows close by "naw, killed a total of 4 of em' while I was out that long, ain't no livin' dead round here" he says, turning to flick the flashlight off.

I walk to the bed and get under the blanket before he turns it off. The night sky and full moon illuminates the room and I stare at the ceiling, unable to sleep. "What if a herd comes through?" I ask him in a low voice.

"Wouldn't come through here." he says back lowly.

I sit up on my elbows "what if people come through?" I ask, more worried, knowing now that they are the real threat in this world.

I see his silhouette sit up a bit before he responds back to me "the car is in the garage, we set up noise traps, blocked the door. We good for 1 night" he tries assures me.

"alright" I sigh and lay back down myself. The night ticks by slowly, minute after minute of worrying is mixed with minute after minute of wonder. Earlier in the night Daryl kissed me, and I kissed him back. What does that mean? I try to tell myself that it was nothing, that Daryl is just my friend, but is that really all I want? He can be so arrogant sometimes, such a jerk that I can't stand him, yet something about the way he stands up for the group, stands up for me, makes that all okay.

"I can hear ya thinkin' up there." Daryl spits out at some point.

"What?" I mutter back, unaware my tossing and turning was keeping him awake "sorry, didn't mean to wake you" I say back in a whisper.

The room stays quiet and I figure he is just going back to sleep. A minute, maybe two passes before he says something back "ya didn't."

"Can't sleep either?" I ask him.

He just humms back "mmmm."

It's that, that sound of comfort behind his voice, the sound of peace, that makes me crawl out of the large king size bed and tip toe over to where he is laying on an old shagged rug "what- aa what are you doing?" He asks as I sit down next to him, my legs straightening out. He's leaned up on one elbow now watching me curiously.

"move over" I demand looking at him with a smile. The moonlight allows me to see his eyes and the confusion behind them but he does as I requested and moves over enough for me to slide into the half opened sleeping bag along side of him. His body heat emitting onto my skin, the sensation tingling through my entire body. "Goodnight" I say happily, turning away from him and resting my head on my arm.

It doesn't happen instantly but after a few moments his arm wraps around my waist, and he mumbles back "night." My quickened heart rate slows now and I know. His arm might not be wrapped around me tightly, he may not be pulling me close to him, but he's here. With that one return gesture, he's told me what I wanted to know. Who would have thought that one arm would be all I needed. One arm wrapped around me made my world spin again, allowing myself to feel something I've never let myself feel before.


	14. Chapter 14: Useful

"Hey, wake up sleeping beauty." I mock the names he usually calls me.

I woke up a few seconds before I said anything, our faces close to one another, one of his arms still around my waist. His eyes flicker open when I speak the words "huh.." He grumbles out blinking quickly awake. "What time is it?" He asks, the night still illuminating the room.

The haziness of sleep begins to wear from his blue eyes "round 4" I looked at my watch when it beeped me awake.

He sits up off the floor and tries to crack his neck "damn floor" he mutters to himself.

I sit up now myself and say back "I don't know what you're complaining about, I slept fine." I smile to him.

"Thats not- not what I meant-" He rubs an arm around the back of his neck nervously.

"Haha" I laugh back sweetly "it's fine, lets get going." I stand up and grab the few things in the room that are mine to change into. I go into the bathroom to use the broken toilet, better then a hole in the ground, and change my clothes from the day before. I switch my jeans and change tops before heading out of the room "hey, cool vest." I tell him when I get out. His back was turned around towards me and on the back of the black leather were angel wings.

His head cocks to try and look at what I complimented and he notices it when he looks at the mirror behind him "oh ya." he shrugs, I guess not noticing it when he picked it out of one of the houses.

Daryl drives quickly back towards the jail, most of the drive is silent "can I ask yew somethin'?" He breaks the silence.

"sure." I say back, curious what he wants to ask.

He bites his lip while staring at the road ahead "what happened to you and that family?" he asks, glancing between the road and myself. I look at him, not expecting the question "after what happened with your.." he goes to elaborate further on what he meant but stops, not sure if he should go on.

"no, no.. I get what you mean." I stop him from saying the words. I look out the window when I tell him "they couldn't take the sorrow and pain I brought them. I wasn't adopted and was put back into the foster care system." I look back to him. He pulls the car over to the side of the road and puts it in park, the engine running "what are you doing?" I question, nervous walkers might here the engine and draw themselves closer.

He turns his upper body just a little to face me more "I was wonderin'" he stops then, buying his inner lip.

I look at him, his eyes averting from mine "wonderin' what Daryl? You're scaring me." I tell him honestly, getting nervous.

"I was wonderin' if yew wanted ta go out" he mutters.

I chuckle "we are out." I look out the front window "pretty out in the open if you ask me. We should really get moving." I say tapping the dashboard.

His head shakes "no, I mean out with me." his eyes meet mine this time and he stares at me for an answer.

I smirk "Daryl, are you trying to ask me out?" I ask coyly.

He shrugs "maybe" and glares at me from the side for a response while biting the inside of his cheek.

"why?" I ask him, not sure what it is he see's in me. I've just started coming around to the idea of me liking Daryl again, but I can't imagine him liking me. I'm a disaster of a person whose self worth is just as much of a disaster as the world is.

He just stares at me with a look I can't place "caus' of that." he smirks before continuing "caus' yew think of yourself as nobody, cause I think of myself as a nobody, cept when I'm with you. And I don' like the idea of you thinkin' that way." I don't say anything, not sure how to respond to him and what he's saying. "cause yer not nobody Sadie-Mae, yer a pretty damn good somebody" he finishes.

I smile to him and nod, my heart feeling something it hasn't felt in more than a decade. He smiles and exhales back to me before putting the car back in drive and getting back on the road. As the wheels hit the pavement I put my left hand over his that's resting on the gear shift. He doesn't look back to me, but he intertwines his fingers with mine as we make our way back to the jail.

We pull up to the jail slowly, allowing whoever is on watch to see that it's us "Daryl." I say as we get closer, Carl opening the gate for us to go through. He glances over to me "let's not say anything to anybody" I say, hoping he doesn't ask why or get offended.

"wasn't gonna, none their business anyway" he smirks back, agreeing with me. I squeeze his hand just a little and release it as we pull through the gate. I hop out of the car and Daryl pulls it up further to park it with the others.

Rick gets the other gate as the 3 of us walk up to where he is parking the car "we got some supplies for the group and stuff for Judith as well!" I explain to Rick.

"That's Great. Thank you Sadie. How was shooting practice?" He asks me curiously.

"I actually got my own squirrel" I beam proudly. "I think I'll be able to help out around the fences pretty soon" I assure our leader.

He smiles back to me "that's great, I was wonderin' when we'd all start to rub off on you" he nudges my arm "Dixon can take it easy now keepin' an eye on you" he mentions before walking off to meet up with him.

I look down to Carl "what's that suppose to mean?" I ask him, hoping he'd know something.

He shrugs "Dad asked Daryl to keep an eye on you at the farm. He was worried" he says before walking away, leaving me confused with more questions.

I follow him and meet up with the 3 men at the car, taking supplies out "Sadie-Mae, don't forget ya bow" Daryl calls out to me walking towards the jail entrance. I want to ask him about what Rick said, but I can't in front of the others, not without letting my emotions get in the way.

"Thanks" I call back to him, going to the back seat and getting the bow Daryl gave me out of the back seat. I walk inside behind the others and make my way to my cell to put it away. Daryl stayed behind to talk with Rick and I go off to find Judith "we got some toys," I coo towards the baby walking into a cell where she is being cradled by Beth "and some food, clothes, bedding" I smile toward her as Beth hands her over to me.

"That's great, shivs and handcuffs aren't something babies should be playing with" she smirks as I do.

"I feel like I was gone a week, she seems so much bigger than just one day ago." I explain while holding her.

Beth laughs "maybe you have baby fever, want her to stay young forever."

"As if" I chuckle back and we both laugh together.

"Will you watch her and put her down for a nap for me? She coughed up all over this shirt, I want to clean it before it stains" she shows me where Judith burped on her and I nod. She thanks me and leaves the cell.

"Rick wants to have a meeting." Carol pops her head into where I am napping along with Judith. I sit up and nod with a yawn and she enters to grab the sleeping baby. I walk out with her, shoes still on and meet up with everyone in the courtyard.

Rick stands in front of us, his head down. He starts slowly "when I met with the Governor, he offered me a deal." He plays with something between his thumb and pointer finger, spinning it around "he said- he said he would leave us alone if I gave him Michonne." And I was gonna do that... to keep us safe." His eyes surrounded by circles show the obvious weight on his shoulders. "I changed my mind. But now Merle took Michonne to fulfill the deal and Daryl went to stop him and I don't know if it's too late." My heart sinks at his words, Daryl went to stop him. What if something happens to him, what if he doesn't come back again. I look down at my feet, trying to hide my emotions from people seeing. Rick continues "I was wrong not to tell you. And I'm sorry." His voice changes "what I said last year, that first night after the farm, it can't be like that. It can't. What we do, what we're willing to do, who we are, it's not my call. It can't be. I couldn't sacrifice one of us for the greater good because we are the greater good. We're the reason we're still here, not me. This is life and death. How you live, how you die- it isn't up to me. I'm not your Governor. We choose to go." I look up to him "we choose to stay." I look around, at the people I call my family. "We stick together. We vote." I look back to him "we can stay and we can fight or we can go." he finishes, walking out of the courtyard leaving us all to our thoughts.


	15. Chapter 15: Staying

I run through the halls, searching for Daryl. He got back to the prison about an hour before, never coming into the cell block. Rick came back from walking the perimeter and keeping an eye out after his talk. He told me what happened to Merle. "Daryl" I sigh out heavily, finally finding him in an office area of the jail, sitting on the desk. He looks up when I get there, faced blotched from crying, but there are no more tears.

"I'm sorry" I whisper walking closer to him. I stand in front of him, our faces inches apart as he looks down at the ground between us. I put my right hand on his cheek, rubbing my thumb against his skin. He responds to it and looks up to me. He puts his hand on top of mine to keep it there and presses it further into his skin. We stare at each other in silence, our hearts making the only noise in the room. "I'm sorry" I say again, this time not in a whisper. I want him to know that I know what he's going through, I know what it's like to lose a sibling. I've been through the pain, I still live through the pain everyday, and I want him to know that I know.

His other hand suddenly wraps around my back, pulling me close and our lips touch. He kisses me like he's searching for something. He kisses me fast and furiously, emotion taking control and I kiss him back the same way, keeping his pace. My hands wrap underneath his shirt, holding on to his sides with force. He easily jumps off from where he is sitting and finds the edge of my shirt. He pulls it up and we part for a moment to remove it, the piece of cloth falling to the side at his feet. He pushes me gently towards the wall, our hands gripped at each other's sides. After removing his vest, now at our feet, I go to remove his shirt but he pulls away from our kiss putting his head down. I stand there with my mouth half open, breathing heavily eyeing him. "I can't do this right now." he breathes out heavily with regret. "I'm sorry" he adds when he looks up to me, his blue eyes darker than usual.

"It's fine" I say back, putting my hand to his face and rubbing my thumb across his lips. His lips twitch into just the smallest smile of gratitude and he steps back. I step around him, and lean down to grab my shirt off the floor.

"Hey, what's this?" he puts his hand on my back, running it down one side and I quiver under his touch. Chills running through my body "angel wings?" he asks, removing his hands once I stand up fully again to put my shirt back on.

"For my sister" I say back once my shirt is back on and I'm facing him again.

He nods while biting his lower lip "they're done well." he finally breaks the silence.

"Rick wants us to vote on staying and fighting or leaving the prison." I tell him, beginning to walk out of the room back to the others.

He shrugs "what you wanna' do?" he asks.

"I can't fight, they are people. Even if he is a terrible person- the others- I can't." I trail off knowing I wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.

He nods "then we leave."

I stop my feet "well, what do you want to do?" I urge him.

"Don't matter what I want." he tells me back.

"Why not?" I ask, not sure what he's trying to say.

He shakes his head "nothin', let's go." He takes off to meet with the others.

After everyone said what they wanted to say, we've decided to fight for the prison, but not battle them for it. Our plan is to pack everything up, make it look like we left and in a hurry. When there guard is down we'll attack, surprise them with noise and aim to get them out of there, to show them we are a threat and not worth messing with. The next morning we pack up the car. I'm going to go off into the woods with Carl, Beth, Hershel and Judith until it's over. I pack up the car alongside Beth, all the while watching Carol talk with Daryl. Everyone in the group knows about Merle now, and Daryl doesn't like the attention. Time goes by quickly, and before I know it, i'm in the woods hunkered into the car with Judith, the others outside of it listening, waiting, and taking guard. It's not long after that we hear the firing of an automatic weapon. Time slows down then, as they are probably marching inside, looking to slaughter us all. More gun fire is heard, and I try and sing to Judith, to keep her calm and distracted from the all the noise

"She's got a smile it seems to me

Reminds me of childhood memories

Where everything

Was as fresh as the bright blue sky

Now and then when I see her face

She takes me away to that special place

And if I'd stare too long

I'd probably break down and cry

Oh, oh, oh

Sweet child o' mine

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Sweet love of mine"

I stop, her smiling back at me when I see someone come out of the woods towards us. Hershel and Carl both tell him to stop, direct him to hand the gun over. As the young boy goes to surrender his weapon, Carl pulls the trigger on his silenced gun and the body thuds to the ground. We know it's time to head back, that they have retreated. I get into the other truck and follow Hershel as he drives back into the prison. After getting some things back inside I notice Rick, Daryl & Michonne getting ready to leave "where are you going?" I ask walking over to Michonne.

"Andrea is still in Woodbury." she looks to me before walking to the truck.

Glenn comes up with Maggie "Rick, we're staying. We don't know where the Governor is. If he comes back, we'll hold him off." He tells him.

"Just the three of us?" Daryl comments "All right." He swings his bow over his shoulder and gets on his bike.

"I appreciate you staying" Rick thanks them, turning back to get into the truck and drive off. Daryl nods his head towards me once before leading the way out of the prison. After he leaves, I take the opportunity to congratulate Maggie on her engagement to Glenn. No one said anything, but the the ring on her finger was enough for me to notice.

She walks over to a fence, bringing her knife out and stabbing a walker through the skull "I'm so happy for you two." I explain when the body is on the floor.

She looks at me strangely, not sure what I'm talking about and I hint towards the ring with my eyes "oh right, thanks." She smiles looking down at it "I'm not used to this thing quiet yet." she adds on. I just smile back.

She turns to kill another one that came up, leaving dead space in the air "can I ask you somethin'?" I tilt my head, wondering how to word it without giving anything away. She just blinks at me, waiting for me to ask. "How did you guys, like, get to know each other?" I trail off, unsure of what I'm really trying to ask.

"Well, we had a bit more space to talk on the farm than we do here, but we really got to know one another out on runs together." she smirks, looking through me. I cough, to bring her attention back to the present "you can learn a lot about a person when you're out in the open like that, vulnerable to the world. Vulnerable to each other" she says to me. I nod, letting her know I got it. "Does this have to do with Dixon?" She asks me, shading her eyes from the sun.

"maybe" I say back, knowing she knows the truth already.

It's silent until she adds "you gon' make me beg for more?" A very faint smile forming on her lips.

I sigh, turning away from her thinking. I turn back to her when I speak about it "we have these moments.. these intense, deep moments together-" I trial off.

"what's wrong with that?" she asks.

"There shouldn't be anything wrong with that, but it's Daryl, and it's me! I've known you for a year or so now and what do you really know about me?" I ask her. She shakes her head and shrugs, giving me the answer I already knew "so how can he even like me when he doesn't actually know me?" I tell her what I'm afraid of.

"I do know that you're a good person Sadie. You care about this group, and you care about him. Maybe he see's that too." She tells me.

"Maybe." I say back. She kills one more walker before we head back into the prison together. "He asked me out on a date" I tell her before we surround ourselves with the others.

She laughs "I figured as much! He tried to get Glenn to help him put something together, but he wouldn't come out and say what it was for." She explains to me "Glenn was confused. When I told him what I thought, it made so much more sense."

"You knew this whole time and made me drag on about it?" I lightly hit her on the arm. She just laughs and we go inside.

Daryl, Rick and Michonne don't return until morning, and they are not alone when they come in. A school bus full of people are following behind and getting off into the home we've made for ourselves. "Andrea?" I ask, walking closer to Michonne and Daryl. Michonne looks down to the ground, still sitting in the truck. Rick shakes his head, lowering the bed of the truck to show a wrapped up body. "ohh" I explain out of sorrow. I make my way towards the bus, helping the new people, mostly women, children and the elderly, get off as Rick talks to his son.

Daryl comes over to me "I'll see you tonight" he says lowly while walking past with a head nod. I smile with my lips closed, letting him know that he will.


	16. Chapter 16: A Date

"Ready?" Daryl pops his head into the jail cell.

"Sure thing" I say finishing putting my boots on. I stand up and walk over towards him. "Hi." I smile when I get closer. He awkwardly opens his arms for a hug and I embrace him quickly, feeling just as strange as he probably does.

We get outside of the jail "so uhh.. I wanna pologize now cause I wanted to try and take yew out somewheres but with everythin' happenin' with the governor, Rick didn't want us goin' off alone" he kicks at some rocks by his feet periodically looking back to me.

"It's fine." I smile back, still not sure what he's got planned.

We walk towards the guard tower, Daryl compliments me "you look nice Sadie-Mae." I'm not wearing anything special, a pair of skinny jeans I've gotten from a run and a purple and white floral blouse. The straps are spaghetti straps and it has sleeves hanging loose off my shoulders.

I blush "well thanks, you clean up quiet nice yourself Mr. Dixon." Daryl wearing his leather vest on top of a normal dark green sleeved shirt, one I haven't seen him wear before. His jeans are cleaned as well and his hair brushed through and pushed to the side, still greasy.

When we get to the top there's cots from the prison on the floor, a table cover over them and food already set up on actual dishes. There are candles in two different corners of the room providing light "hope ya don't mind, I had some help." He walks over to where the food is and suggests for me to sit. "This wouldn't be my typical date, but yanno-"

He shrugs offering up a bottle of wine.

I nod, accepting the gesture "it's great Daryl." I say as he pops the cork and pours the red wine into a glass. He pours himself a glass as well and we hold up our glasses to toast "to new things" I say, obvious to how nervous he his at the moment.

"New things." he says back before taking a big sip. "It ain't veal but it's a nice buck." He says looking down at the food.

"It's a lot." I explain at the large portion on our plates. "Did you hunt this today?" I ask. He nods trying to cut it with a knife "thank you" I say to him, my heart warm. I know everyone else will eat good tonight too.

"For wha?" He asks with his mouth full.

"For being you. For pulling me out of my shell." I try and list the things he's done for me.

He shrugs it off like its nothing, eating more of his food "how old were you when you got that tattoo?" He asks with his mouth full.

I take a bite of the food, the tenderness of the buck melting in my mouth "mmmm.." I hum out before I could answer "around 15." I say can't really remembering exactly when anymore.

"We're yew still in foster care?" He asks me next.

I shake my head "no. I ran off from the homes when I was 12." I tell him. He looks at me, wanting to ask more, so I answer before he has too "they tried to place me with other families but everyone in that area knew what happened. They moved me to another system and-" I pause trying to find the words "let's just say those people shouldn't be parents. I had enough being knocked around so I ran off." I explain.

He asks "where'd you go?"

I shrug "lots of places, Florida, Jersey, New York. I just tried to stay off the governments radar."

"Oh" Daryl says back.

I ask him "what about you?"

"what bout me?" he asks back.

"What was it like growing up for you?" I ask him. I already figured out that it wasn't easy for him, just the type of shield he has up, or the one Merle had was enough for someone to figure out it probably wasn't the Brady's home.

He averts looking me in the eyes while telling me "dad was a drunk and mom died in a fire lit by her own damn cigarette."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I tell him sincerely "I never got it, why some people bring children into this world." I shake my head while saying this.

"People are stupid" Daryl agrees back with me "so yew don't want kids?" He asks, eyeing me strangely, finishing off the food on his plate.

"No, I don't think I do." I say before taking my last bite. "Not in this world or the last, people are still the same now as they were then, just without rules." I finish my plate and push it forward.

He pushes his forward as well after I do "how was it?" He asks me.

"Perfect" I smile back, actually feeling full "thanks."

"so, there ain't much to do round here, but I was wonderin'"he goes to sit up and pull something out of his back pocket "yew know anything' bout poker?"

I put my hand to my chest "please, I'm the poker queen" I exclaim happily. He laughs and takes out the cards and begins to shuffle them. I remove the plates from the make shift table and the cloth as well. He begins to deal the deck and I lay on my stomach, ready to teach him a thing or two.

"Damn, you are good Sadie." he comments, passing over his peanuts.

I chuckle, taking his peanuts with both arms like I won the jackpot in Vegas "what can I say, girl's gotta eat." I crush one on my palm and throw it into my mouth with a smirk "what do you say we up the anties?" I raise an eyebrow to him, ready to take him down once and for all.

He shakes his head "I'm out." I pout my lower lip, not wanting the game to be over "unless you wanna play strip poker, I got nothin." he comments back.

My eyes open wider "yessssss.." I hiss back grinning, the wine getting to my head "I'd have you down to your skiveys in no time!" I snap for emphasis.

He shakes his head "no," and laughs, pulling in his cards and waiting for me to hand mine over "and skivey's? really?" He questions with an eyebrow raise and small smirk.

I shrug with a devious grin and sigh "fine" while handing him the cards. He puts them back in the ragged box he got them in and stands up, coming over to grab my hand and help me off the floor "where are we going?" I ask him as he walks forward, our hands still connected. We go out to the balcony part of the tower, facing away from the jail. He looks out to the night sky, his eyes heavy with something, I can tell "what is it?" I ask him. He goes to say something but stops himself, biting his lip instead "Daryl, what is it?" I push further, starting to worry.

He looks down to me, the stars barely illuminating his blue eyes with the cloud coverage. He lowers his face and kisses me gently. Nothing like the last time in the jail cell, or the time when he taught me how to shoot. This is different. This is meaningful. His mouth parts just enough for me to slip my tongue in. We stand under the hazy night sky for what feels like eternity, kissing each other and letting the whole world disappear around us.

I initiate the movement back inside the guard tower. We stumble over the cots, not wanting to break from the kiss. He lies down on top of me, one hand on the nape of my back, the other wrapped around the back of my neck. Our breath becomes labored and he pulls away to get some air. He stares into my eyes as we pant to catch out breath. When I can't take the way he's smiling at me anymore I bend my head away in embarrassment and he pulls me into his chest and I lay in his arms.


	17. Chapter 17: The Big Spot

It's been a few months since that night in the guard tower. We've been able to sneak away a couple times, getting to know a bit more about one another. We've also been able to keep our relationship under wraps, Maggie, Glenn & Rick the only one's we actually came out and told. Rick has been allowing more and more people to stay as we've come across them on runs. I've been killing walkers ever since that night in the guard tower as well, and getting better at taking them out and helping the group.

I sit at the table eating breakfast with some others. Daryl walks out of the prison and makes his way toward Carol whose cooking "Morning, Daryl." The Doctor we invited in 2 weeks before shouts out to him.

"What's up, Dr. S?" He shouts back.

"Morning, Daryl." Others call out to him. He looks to them all, as 2 others shout out to him "Morning, Daryl." All the while he avoids looking at me, something I've gotten used to now that we are surrounded by strangers.

I pack up the truck, going to help out on a run today. I put my bow in the truck bed, getting to be a pretty decent shot with it. Daryl keeps his slung across his shoulder as he packs up as well. I catch an eye of Beth kissing the cheek of a young boy whose smitten with her, or smitten with getting in her pants. "You gonna say goodbye?" He asks her as she struts away.

She calls back "Nope" and leaves him standing there. I smirk at them, happy not to be a teenager anymore.

"It's like a damn romance novel" Daryl snorts to the young boy. I chuckle and get onto the back of his bike, ready to get going.

I wait for everyone else to finish. When one of our new members walks over to us "Hey. I'd like to start pulling my weight around here" he says.

Sasha speaks back "Bob, it's only been a week."

He responds "that's a week worth of meals, a roof over my head. Let me earn my keep."

She shakes her head just a bit "you were out on your own when Daryl found you."

"That's right." He comments back cutting her off from saying anything more.

"I just want to make sure you know how to play on a team." She responds with her eyebrows raised.

Daryl comes over now, getting on the bike "we ain't gonna do it unless it's easy."

I add on "you know he was a medic in the Army."

"You a hell of a tough sell. You know that?" Bob smirks towards Sasha.

She sighs out "okay" and gestures her head to get in.

Daryl starts up the bike "let's go princess" he calls back, beginning to head out. We stop on the way down the courtyard, Michonne returned from looking for the governor. "Well, look who's back." He says stopping the bike to talk.

"Didn't find him." She informs us.

"Glad to see you in one piece." I comment with a smile, not liking the idea of her going off looking for him, especially on her own.

She nods back "I'm thinking of looking over near Macon." Rick gives her a look, she adds on "it's worth a shot.

Daryl comments "70 miles of walkers. You might run into a few unneighborly types. Is it?" She doesn't answer, considering he might be right "I'm gonna go check out the Big Spot. The one I was talking about, just seeing." He tells Rick about the last minute trip.

"Yeah, I got to go out and check the snares. I don't want to lose whatever we catch to the walkers." Rick responds to him.

"I'll go." Michonne steps up to come along with us.

Carl yells out to her "you just got here."

And she smiles back at him "and I'll be back" before walking off to get into the truck and head out with us. Daryl revs the engine of the motorcycle and we begin our way out again.

We drive straight through and pull up to the Big Spot store they previously found. I didn't go on the run when they found it, but he told me about it. We go up to the fence, Daryl explains to Bob "Army came in and put these fences up. Made it a place for the people to go. Last week when we spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain-link keeping people out like a bunch of guard dogs."

"So they all just left?" He asks, looking at the now empty parking lot.

"Give a listen." Sasha says.

"You drew 'em out." I comment after a moment, pointing out to the fence.

"Put a boom box out there three days ago. Hooked it up to two car batteries." Glenn explains to us, Sasha now smirking from behind him.

Daryl takes the lead "all right, let's make a sweep. Make sure it's safe. Grab what you can. We'll come back tomorrow with more people." We walk past the tents and equipment, keeping an eye all around "Come on." he nods us forward toward the store

Daryl bangs his elbow against the windows "just give it a second." he says.

"Okay, I think I got it." Beth's young boyfriend Zack says, leaning against the wall.

"Got what?" Michonne asks.

"I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn." He tells her, moving to squat against the window next to Daryl.

"He's been trying to guess for like, six weeks." I chuckle, leaning myself against the wall where he was.

"Yeah, I'm pacing myself. One shot a day." Zack says.

Daryl nods "All right, shoot."

"Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people, but you're still being kind of... surly." Michonne and I look at each other chuckling. "Big swing here." He finally gets out "homicide cop."

Michonne starts laughing "what's so funny?" Daryl asks her, me next to her trying to hide my own laughter. It's not the answer he gave but the way Daryl responds to Michonne that got me chuckling.

"Nothing. It makes perfect sense." Michonne calms down and nods.

Daryl looks away "actually, the man's right. Undercover." He finally looks to him confirming his guess, his eyes stern.

"Come on, really?" He asks with wide eyes.

"Yep. I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lot of heavy shit, ya know?" He says seriously. I smirk at him and then Michonne, both of us know he's pulling the kids leg.

"Dude, come on, really?" He asks again excited he actually guessed it. Daryl looks at him, his hair in his face and the kid catches on "okay. I'll just keep guessing, I guess."

Daryl responds "yeah, yew keep doin' that."

Walkers begin to bang on the window, Daryl instantly stands up "we gonna do this, Detective?" I mock.

"Let's do it." He says back, getting his bow ready. I get mine up as well. I can't aim and shoot as quick as he can, but I can focus on one target then get the rest with a knife.

Tyreese drags a body out of the way and we wait "all right, we go in, stay in formation for the sweep." Sasha explains "after that, you all know what you're supposed to look for."

We all pile into the store, Daryl and I striking down the two walkers with our bows "nice shot" he says to me, taking both arrows out of their heads, handing me back mine.

"Learned from the best." I smirk back to him before going off to look for supplies. I grab medical supplies like bandages, peroxide, gauze and then make my way to feminine hygiene isle "damn, what I wouldn't give to be forever done with my period." I comment when Sasha walks back grabbing tampons and stuffing them into my bag.

"We can't ever catch a break" she laughs back with me shaking her head. A loud crash is heard throughout the entire building. Bottles smashed onto the floor. Sasha and I run to find what made the noise, worried what the sounds could draw in.

We get there just as Daryl stands up from checking underneath a shelf "what happened?" I ask wide eyed.

"Everyone's all right." He says back to me, before going to lift up the shelf.

Tyreese shouts out to the others "we're over in wine and beer."

Bob explains "I was moving fast, man. I drove right into the drinks."

"Man, you lucked out. If this thing had come down on you the wrong way-"Tyreese says back to him.

The ceiling breaks and a body falls out of it right above me. His foot hits me on the head but he' stopped mid air, dangling from his insides "Jesus!" I yell out, moving aside frightened.

"Yeah, uh, we should probably go now." Glenn says, his voice in a panic.

Daryl yells back "Bob's still stuck. Get him out of there." he goes to help.

"We'll get the others." Michonne says. We go to move but another body falls down, this time onto the floor. We spread out, as more and more fall like rain.

I move to the side, killing one with my knife as another comes towards me. I stab it through the eye. I go to move, to help kill more but one falls from the roof and on to me. "Damn it!" I shout out, trying to kick at it, to get it away from me. It lies across me vertically, scrambling to get at some flesh to eat. When it dropped on top of me, I dropped my knife, it must have glided off somewhere because I can't reach for it. It lays across my stomach, so I try and push it off of me before it can grab a hold of my arms and naw "Help!" I call out. Hoping someone is close by. An arrow flies into its head and it goes limp on top of me. I push it off, easier now that it won't struggle and spot my knife a few feet away. "Sadie, go!" He shouts out. I look to him and he's looking up, I look up and see a crashed helicopter falling down towards us, barely being held up by the roof.

"What about Bob?" I shout back to him. I stab 2 more, Zack shoots off rounds into some others around us. He yells at us to get Bob so I move quickly towards him. I pull at the legs of a walker crawling towards him and Daryl smashes it's brains in with his boot. I help lift the shelf with Zack and Daryl, before puling him out before they let it drop again.

"Let's get out of here!" Daryl shouts towards us. A piercing scream, one of our own echoes through the chaos. Zack is on the ground, a walker crawling on top of him.

"Zack!" I shout to try and help him, but Daryl holds me back, as the biter eats into his neck, a place we can not save.

Daryl pushes me forward "go! go!" and I run out with the others, just as the helicopter falls into the building crushing everything inside.


	18. Chapter 18: When Sickness Hits

"You talk with Daryl?" I ask Beth making my way into our cell. I don't hang out in there very much, letting her take over mostly. She nods without looking up from her book. "I'm sorry" I say to her, feeling bad and not really knowing what else to say. He's been here a couple weeks, and they both seemed to enjoy one another.

She shrugs, not looking back up to me "maybe you should go talk to him, he seemed upset."

"Thanks" I say before going to look for him.

I look back outside, and in some of the cells but he's no where to be found "I saw him a few minutes ago, he was heading that way." Patrick points off towards another area. I nod and thank him while heading that way.

"Daryl?" I call into the shower area. No one answers but I hear it running. I walk in slowly, not wanting to startle someone "Daryl?" I question again, there's no where else he could have gone. I stop a few feet away from where the shower is running, his body obvious to me through the shadow of the curtain. His hand rests against the wall, his head tilted downwards towards the ground as if he's watching the water fall. "Daryl, is everything okay?" I whisper out to him. He doesn't answer, or turn to me and I start to worry. I step closer to the curtain "Daryl?" I say pulling it to the side to get his attention. He finally turns his head to me, his eyes angry "what.." I gasp out a little at what I see.

On his back are scars, scars of a bad past. He mentioned to me that his dad was an abusive drunk, but I never imagined this. "You mind?" He snarls at me. I ignore him, and step under the water, not caring that I'm getting my clothes wet. I rub my fingers across one of the scars and he jerks himself away "you deaf or somethin'?" he snarls, his voice raising.

"Daryl.. I.." I go to say something but he interrupts me.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" He yells, turning his back away from me so it's facing the wall.

His eyes burn into me, my heart raising from what he said. I nod, feeling vulnerable and leave. I try to hide what I'm feeling inside, from him, from the others, from myself. I walk through the cell block, my clothes soaked and outside towards the fence wall. "Hey, everything okay?" Maggie asks me as I walk past her. I ignore her though, and the few others who try and get my attention. Everyone is done for the day taking down the walkers, there aren't many but I'll do what I can to try and get my frustration out.

"What's going on?" Rick comes over to the fence line where I am. I eye him for a second, not taking my attention off of the task at hand. He comes around through the gate into the walkway. "Sadie" he says,taking a hold of my wrist to stop me "you're scaring the others." he eyes behind me up towards the prison.

My hands tightly wrapped against the pipe I'm using but I sigh out slowly and loosen the grip. Rick takes it from my hand and I mutter "sorry."

"It's alright.." he puts his hand on my back "you wanna tell me what this is about?" He eyes me. I give him a look, one that says you already know "Daryl?" He asks to make sure.

"of course" I say back putting my head down "why do I let him get to me?" I question more to myself then to him.

"you know, I think you get to him too" He says after some silence. I look at him, like I haven't thought of that before and he smiles softly back to me "now, let's go inside before you catch a cold, it's not summer anymore" his smile widens and he takes off his jacket to pass it over to me.

I didn't realize till then that I was shivering. I thought I was shaking from the anger but maybe it was just the cold. I don't sleep well that night, tossing and turning in the upper bunk. Beth mumbles something to me in the middle of the night about it. I decide to get up early, make breakfast before the others get up. I walk outside into the rising sun. A haze of fog rolled in overnight, making it look clearer against the fences then it actually is. Glenn nods his head from the tower, him and Maggie taking the night shift. Rick and Carl come out an hour or so after I do, to start farming and taking care of the animals. Michonne leaves on the horse, and everyone starts the day as normal as we have been. I start to plate out some dishes when I hear echoed gunshots. The plate I'm holding falls to the ground in a heep, I turn to grab my knife and bow, resting against a pillar behind me.

Glenn runs out of the cell block "Walkers in D!" He shouts out to us all.

"What about C?" Rick asks worried as he makes it to the rest of us.

"Clear." Someone yells back, I think it's Sasha "Hershel's on guard."

"It ain't a breach!" Daryl yells, running forward.

Sasha adds on right behind him "We followed the plan!"

We get into D block and it's chaos. There, some of the people we used to know are now dead and attacking the others. Blood stains the floors and the walls and the deadbeats switch from their dead meals on the floor to the live bait that's running around. I kill whomever I know is already dead, stabbing them in their heads or stomping them out if they are already on the ground. People begin to file out of the D block as the rest of us take down the walkers. I make my way upstairs, checking the cells for any lingering people, too afraid to run. I go to peak into a room when a walker throws itself out from behind a sheet and grabs me "ughh.." I push against it, trying to fight it off.

"GET DOWN!" Someone yells and I try to duck, the walker soon letting its grip go. Rick comes over and offers me his hand.

"Thanks" I say to Daryl, noticing the arrow sticking out of the head.

Daryl looks down at the body "It's Patrick" he comments. He looks back out to the rest of the block "it's all of them."

I sit in on the council meeting with the others. Rick isn't there and I'm too worried about what happened to not participate in this particular meeting. "Patrick was fine yesterday, and he died overnight. Two people died that quick?" Carol starts the meeting, wondering how this could've gone down so quickly.

"We'll have to separate everyone that's been exposed." I say, worried about getting the others sick.

Daryl speaks up in a low voice "that's everyone in that cell block. That's all of us. Maybe more."

"We know that this sickness can be lethal. We don't know how easily it spreads. Is anyone else showing symptoms that we know of?" Hershel addresses us all calmly.

Carol responds "we can't just wait and see. And there's children. It isn't just the illness. If people die, they become a threat."

Hershel nods agreeing with her words "we need a place for them to go. They can't stay in D. We can't risk going in there to clean it up."

"We can use cell block A." Carol recommends.

"Death row?" Glenn asks. "I'm not sure that's much of an upgrade."

Daryl comments "it's clean. That's an upgrade." He asks Hershel "think that'll work for Dr. S?"

"I'll help Caleb get it set up." He says back. We hear someone coughing out in the hall. All of us get up to see what it's about.

"You okay?" We hear a male ask.

"Mm-hmm." Someone responds back as we reach the door.

Carl is out in the hall first "you sure?" she asks "you don't sound so good." We're all huddled in the small space, staring at Karen and Tyreese.

"We're just taking her back to my cell so she can rest." He assures us she's fine.

"Tyreese, I don't think that's a good idea." Sasha disagrees in a soft voice.

"Why? What's going on now?" Karen asks, coughing into her arm after.

"We think it's a flu or something." I say back.

"That's how Patrick died." Glenn adds on.

Hershel steps forward toward her "Judith is in that cell block. She's vulnerable. Anyone that may be sick or even exposed should stay away."

"It killed Patrick?" She asks worried.

Tyreese speaks up upon her behalf "she's gonna be okay. Now that we know what Patrick died from we can treat it, right?" He looks to Hershel for relief, for his answer.

"Don't panic. We're going to figure this out. But we should keep you separated in the meantime. We'll have Caleb take a look at you. I'll see what we have in the way of medications." He explains to her and Tyreese.

Karen nods, speaking back "David from the Decatur group, he's been coughing, too."

Glenn moves off the wall "I'll get him." He turns back towards Sasha "there's some empty clean cells in the tombs, right?"

"Yeah, we'll meet you there. Okay." Sasha says back to him. She goes to her brothers side "come on. Let's get you settled."

"Have to call another meeting later." Herhsel informs the 3 of us who are still there.

"All right" Daryl nods "I'll get to burying the dead ones." He moves his bow to his shoulder.

Hershel instructs him as I move to the corner of the hall "you wear gloves and a mask."

"Uh-huh." He nods as Hershel walks past him to follow after Karen and the others.

"You all right?" Daryl asks Carol whose still standing there.

"I'm worried about Lizzie and Mica. They were around Patrick." She says to him.

"We all were. Karen and David are gonna be separated till they feel better." He tells her.

"You're right. Are you okay?" She asks him back.

"Mm-hmm." I hear him mumble back "got to be." He turns back from her to walk and get to work and stops when he gets to me "are you alright?" He asks me.

"Don't act like you care" I snarl back, still annoyed about the night before.

He grunts "fine, I won't." and he walks off.

"Someone seems touchy" Carol comes over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder.

I puff out "I know right" I roll my eyes at Daryl although he is already out of sight.

"I meant you sweetheart" she smiles back in a condescending way. "Whatever is going on, I think we have a more pressing matter at our hands. We need Daryl, and we need him focused." She says to me before walking out and leaving me alone there. Even though I know she is right, her words bother me. She's always been close with Daryl and I've tried not to let that get to me, but this just seems like her trying to push me away from him. I sigh out, and make my way to find Glenn to help get the new cells ready.


	19. Chapter 19: Getting Safe

"What.. what's going on out here?" I look down following the trail of blood outside and the sounds of yelling. I get out and see two burnt bodies on the ground, obviously done by someone in our camp "Oh my God" I spit out, turning to the side to try not to hurl everywhere.

I mange to keep my food down, barely, and Rick addresses Tyreese "we know what you're going through right now, but you've got to calm down."

"You need to step the hell back!" Tyreese yells in his face, the large man towering over Rick.

"She wouldn't want you being like this." He responds. Tyreese looses it though, and starts to attack Rick. "Stop!" I shout out. Daryl jumping in to try and separate them. "Stop!

Carol also yells. "Stop!"

Daryl gets Tyreese off of him, ending it all "that's enough. That's enough!" He grunts getting pushed aside.

Rick attacks Tyreese though, getting in a good enough hit to send him to the ground. "RICK! STOP!" we all yell at him. He pounds into him, Tyreese bloody on the ground.

"Stop." Daryl gets a hold of Rick.

"Let go of me!" Rick yells crazed.

Daryl doesn't loosen his grip "No. No."

"Let go of me!" Rick manages to push him off. Daryl stumbling back into me.

Rick stops attacking Tyreese, looking down at his bloody hands, sweat dripping off his head. He catches his breath for a moment before turning and walking away from us all.

I follow him out, wanting to take a look at his wounds and his hand. I don't say anything until we get back into the cell block "can I look at you?" I ask him. He sits down putting his head in his other hand while I grab a first aid kid. I look at his face first, careful touching his lip as it's swollen and bloody. He moves back a little at my touch but I tell him it's nothing time won't heal "now, the hand.." I say leaving my hand out for him to place it in there. I look at it closely while wiping at the blood with some gauze and peroxide "good news, none of these cuts need stitches.." I start to wrap it up "I wouldn't plan on much typing the next few days" I chuckle out to try and ease the tension. He doesn't respond though, staying frigid. "You okay?" I ask him.

"It hurts" he says slightly moving the hand I just wrapped.

"I wasn't talking about the hand." I inform him. "We just went through something terrible. Everything we've been working so hard to keep out, it found its way in." I say about what happened.

"No. It's always there." He says back without looking at me.

Hershel steps into the room then, addressing Rick "council meeting tomorrow morning. Thought you should know." It's silent, Rick not looking back to him, I stand up to put the kit away. Hershel adds on "we just lost some of our own. Two more were killed in cold blood. We could be facing an outbreak."

Rick responds now "I think I've done enough damage for one day."

Hershel gives me a nod, suggesting I leave the room and I nod back letting him know I agree. He says to Rick "I've fallen off the wagon before."

"That's what this is?" I hear Rick respond back before being fully out of ear shot.

I head out and make my ways towards death row, offering to help Dr. S with whatever he needs. He's getting sluggish, tired, and we both know that he's coming down with whatever it is Patrick had. I help the other patients as best I can, more just making them as comfortable as can be. We move everyone into quarantine when it's clear that the survivors of cell block D are all infected. We shut the door, and I sit in the corner, near a window, waiting for someone to come in and try to kill them off. I let the anger of what that person did dwell inside of me, those people were alive, they could have fought this thing. Someone took away their chance. The idea that someone I'm living with has such a disregard for human life, that they can live with themselves after what they did drives me nuts, and I want them found maybe as much as Tyreese does.

"Oh, there you are. Took me damn near forever to find you." Daryl comes into the hallway talking to Tyreese. The lighting where they are standing is dim, and I don't even think Tyreese knows I'm waiting there. "Whatcha doing?" He asks him.

"Somebody needs to stand watch." Tyreese says lowly, anger emitting off of him.

"Man, I want to find them, too. Put a bullet in them for what they did." Daryl offers his opinion, as if it would make a difference to the way he feels. "These people are cut off. Ain't no way anyone's getting in and out without a whole bunch of people seeing 'em."

"Sasha's in there. I ain't going nowhere." Tyreese insists.

Daryl spits back "standing guard ain't gonna do no good unless we come back with them meds." I can see his head nod, truly believing what he's saying. "All right." he sighs out. "We're gassing up by the front gate in case you change your mind." Daryl begins to walk out.

"I'll go" I step out of the shadows and out into the light behind him.

He stops and turns around to face me "you ain't comin'" he tells me firmly.

"You're not in charge of me Daryl. I want to come and get these meds, we need them" I argue him.

He eyes me, and I shift my weight to my other foot feeling self conscious, he hasn't looked at me like that in months, maybe longer "No." he finally says turning to walk away again.

I walk forward, coughing a little but determined to keep up with him "you don't have to babysit me anymore Daryl." I yell out to him.

He turns again fast on his heels "It ain't bout babysittin', you're sick. You need to get in quarantine and rest" he points back towards where we just came from.

I shake my head "I'm not sick."

He looks at me with wide eyes "yer sweatin' bullets jus tryin' to keep up with me, I ain't even goin' fast.. Yew ain't comin'" he reiterates "yew can't." He adds on lowly.

"Daryl" I go to argue but his voice calls over mine.

"Carol!" He yells into the air. Shortly after he calls she appears from around a corner, looking to him "Get Sadie into quarantine" he tells her and she nods back. When I turn to look at him again he's already storming off and I find myself standing there mouth gaped open after him.

"Come on" Carol comes over to me putting a hand on my shoulder, but it's gentle, as if she doesn't want to touch me. She keeps her face covered with a bandanna and I follow her towards the quarantined area.


	20. Chapter 20: Dying

Shortly after I get into the quarantined area, Carol is bringing in more people from the cell block that it all started from. A women tries to argue it's allergies, but we all know it's not. At the end of the train of people, comes Glenn. He and Carol exchange a sad look and she locks us all inside. I stand against the far wall and Glenn spots me. He makes his way over, looking worse than I feel "how'd you mange to stay out there so long?" I ask him when he's closer.

"Kept busy, getting things ready for everyone, getting things we needed in here" He tells me.

I step off the wall "so you knew you'd be locked up?"

He shrugs "Me, you, Daryl, Carol, Rick, Hershel.. one of us was wound to get it." He says back. He coughs a bit, and I help him walk over to a cell and sit on a bed "I just want everyone to be comfortable" he finally says when he's done.

"Who cares if you're comfortable if you're going to die" I mumble back to him, letting my fear show.

He looks at me, sweat dripping from his brow "we won't die. They'll come back with the medicine and Dr. S will take care of it."

"Dr. S?" I question out loud. He's been keeping busy enough to not know that Dr. S is worse off than he is. He must get what I'm saying by the way his face changes and I can see just a glimpse of his hope leave them. "Look, I'm sorry" I tell him, feeling bad now. "I'm just angry" I try to explain what I'm feeling. I'm not angry about getting sick, I'm angry at Daryl, and the way he's been treating me. I don't want to care as much as I do, but I can't help it and it just frustrates me further now that I have all this time locked away to think about it.

Glenn nods, thinking he knows what I'm talking about "I get it" he says back with a huff of air before leaning back onto the bed to rest.

Two people die that night, the attempts to save them getting harder and harder as we all get worse as minutes tick by "How are you doing Sadie?" Hershel comes into the cell I'm resting in. I lay on the concrete floor, trying to stay cool although my fever has spiked.

I open one eye to answer "Oh, you know, ready to pick Daisies" I try and joke, although I wasn't doing it to be funny.

"Hershel!" Glenn calls out weakly. Hershel turns his head and then his body out of the cell. I get up as quick as I can, which was rather slow and stumble behind him down the hall into another cell. "Henry, he's seizing or something" Glenn puffs out in a huff. Sasha has now joined us in the hallway and all 4 of us make our way into the small cramped cell to help the ill man.

He's not seizing but he's having a convulsion, choking without oxygen "we need to intubate, he can't breathe on his own" I tell them, seeing things like this before. Hershel drops a bag of medical supplies on the floor and fishes for what we need.

"You two hold him down" He directs to Sasha and I, knowing Glenn has been showing more signs of exhaustion than us. It may not be by much, but it's still worse. We try to hold him down from moving, his body tense. Glenn tried to keep his mouth open for Hershel to get the tube in "Henry, I need you to calm down." He says holding a light with with his other hand "We're trying to help" he tries to explain. The tube finally goes down his windpipe and Glenn attaches the bag to it, pressing on it every once in a while to give Henry's lungs the air that they need. Sasha, Glenn, and I begin coughing after letting him go, more exhausted from the work. "Drink some of that, all of you" Hershel demands looking towards the drink on the ground. Glenn pours Sasha a cup, and she passes it to me after drinking some, her cough subsiding temporarily. "Some council meeting, huh?" Hershel breaths out heavily while pumping.

"We're two members short." Sasha reminds him through an exhale.

Glenn speaks up "Sadie-Mae can take their spot, she's earned it" He says. I give him a small smile of gratitude for thinking that.

Hershel says "I think we should make some new rules before they get back." He looks at each of us while talking "I hereby declare we have spaghetti Tuesdays every Wednesday." Sasha exhales out slowly, not laughing at his humor. "First we have to find some spaghetti." The cell stays quiet before he speaks again "you okay to take over?" He looks to Sasha.

She nods, moving a bit closer to Henry to grab the bag. "Every five to six seconds, squeeze." I tell her before using the wall to stand up.

"You start feeling lightheaded, grab somebody else to take over." Hershel directs her and she nods again. "We'll take it in shifts." He says to us all. "You want to help me go on my rounds?" He asks Glenn.

"Yeah. Sure." Glenn says now going to stand.

"I'll go, you rest" I say to him. Glenn looks to me, a small smile now coming across his face.

"How long will that keep him alive?" Glenn asks before we leave.

"Just as long as we're willing to do it. As long as it takes." Hershel responds to him. I follow behind Hershel to check on the others. We go into a cell to find Mr. Jacobson dead. His mouth covered in blood and his eyes opened in pain. I sigh out, mentally keeping track of who we lost in here while going for my knife to stab him before he turns. Hershel grabs my arm "No. Not here" He whispers before limping out. I put it back in the holster and he brings over a gurney "help me get him on this." He directs it into the room.

I turn to him "okay, but in a couple of hours when Henry's dead-" I go to say to him.

"Sadie-Mae" He urges me to stop.

"How are we gonna get his body down the stairs, across the cell block and through those doors without anyone noticing?" I push on.

"If that happens- if- you're gonna help me." He explains.

I quip back "and what if I'm gone? What is Sasha and Glenn are gone?" I ask him, trying really hard to keep my voice from shaking.

"Shut up and help me get him on this." He doesn't answer my question. I do help him, and we slowly start to wheel him out of death row.

"What are you doing?" Lizzy comes out of her cell and asks us.

Hershel turns to her "We're taking Mr. Jacobson to a quieter place." He knows to change the subject "Go get my copy of "Tom Sawyer" from my room. I want you to read it by tonight. We all got jobs to do." He thinks quickly and Lizzie coughs "that one's yours." He tells her.

"I won't finish it." She says back to him.

"Why?" He asks her.

"It's gonna get too dark."

He touches her gently on the shoulder "well, give it your best try." She beings to walk away "and drink some tea." He calls to her. She turns for a moment looking at him before going back on her way.

We get him to a secluded area. Hershel opens his bible and I hover over the body, ready to stab him and move on. "You haven't had to do this yet, have you?" I ask him, my hand shaking. This is the same thing I've been doing, he's dead and he will turn if I don't do this, I start to tell myself when I feel the anxiety and fear creep in.

Hershel shakes his head "there was one late last night. Sasha did it." He tells me. "People don't need to see it. I don't want them to." He adds on.

Mr. Jacobson begins to stir back from the dead and I quickly jab the blade into his skull. He slumps his head back down and as I glance up I see the silhouette of a little girl in a blue dress, blood dripping onto the floor.


	21. Chapter 21: Death's Doorstep

"Hershel!" I hear a little voice call out. I sit up from where I am resting, against the wall in my cell and wait for another call. I don't know if it's for help with the living or the dead, but I don't know how much more help I can offer. As I wait I hear coughing and some panting. I inch away from the wall, not liking what I hear when a gun shot goes off, followed by a scream. I get to my feet but fall quickly right back down, my body week from the illness. I crawl as fast as I can towards the cell door and see Hershel sitting up, a dead female body across from him and a man being eaten by his son. I gasp, the sight in front of me just awful and Hershel looks at me. "Come on Henry. Come on, boy" The little voice says. We both look up in the cell block and see Lizzie coaxing a now dead Henry towards her.

Hershel gets up quickly and runs towards the girl. As he goes, Henry falls on top of her and she screams "noo!" I holler out, afraid for her. My scream draws the attention of the boy eating his father, he gets to his feet and starts to stumble towards me. How I envy the strength he now has, his stumbling faster than what I can do. He reaches the cell door just as I am able to get the knife out of my holster for it and I use my strength to kill him, piercing it through the temple. It falls on top of me and I'm too weak to push it off. "Is she okay?" I manage to scream out, coughing afterwards.

"She's fine" Hershel yells back soon after. I sigh in relief, hoping that's the end of it. As I lay underneath the body I hear the groans of more dead, walking through the cell looking for flesh. I hold my breath as one comes towards my cell, not allowing myself to move at all. It soon moves on as the noises upstairs draws it's attention. Time moves quickly now, everything spinning as I try to wriggle from the dead weight. 3 gun shots go off and I start to try and count out how many I know are dead. My stomach turns when I think it could be Glenn, or Sasha and I manage to muster whatever strength was left from deep inside of me to push the dead body off of me.

"Daddy!" Maggie calls out loud after another gun shot goes off. I peak outside of the cell, barely holding myself up to see her staring up at her father, fighting against Henry on top of a caged ceiling.

"No!" Hershel fights him while yelling back to his oldest daughter "you could hit the bag. We need it for Glenn." He tells her.

She continues staring and I wait to see what she will do. The gun goes off and Hershel no longer has to fight him. "Where is he?" She asks.

"Here's up here. Cell 100" he says starting to work the bag out of Henry's throat. I slowly work my way to the stairs to help them with Glenn, if I can.

As I get to the steps Maggie calls out "he's turning blue!" with fear coursing through her voice.

"Clear his airway. I'm on the way." He calls back to her.

"Me too!" I yell out, letting them know I want to help.

I get there right after Hershel does, and Glenn is on his back. Glenn gurgles as blood fills his airway "Hold his arms down." I direct Maggie, Hershel readying the tube to intubate. Maggie straddles him to pin his arms down.

Hershel starts to put the tube in "come on, son. Come on. You know how this works." He says to Glenn.

"Just relax" I try to remind him if he's listening.

The tube gets in and Hershel connects the bag, pumping it with air. Glenn still gurgles with it in but it slows down "stay with us. Stay with us. Stay with us." Hershel whispers to him and eventually his gasping stops. "You're gonna be okay." Hershel says then. "We're gonna be okay." He says looking at me. I nod, sitting on my knees and lower my head into my lap. "I didn't want you in here." Hershel says to his daughter.

"I know. I had to. Just like you." She says back to him softly. "Daddy." I hear her whisper even softer.

"I told you to stay put." I hear Hershel say. I look up then, to see who he is talking too.

Lizzie stands at the door to the cell, looking down at us "Is it over?" She asks.

"I hope so, honey." Maggie responds. I watch as Lizzie takes her foot and rubs it along the blood stained floor. I want to yell at her, ask her what she's doing, but I can't find the strength to even look up any further and I let my head fall back down so I'm staring into my lap instead.

"Sasha!" I hear Tyreese's voice echo throughout the building. I perk up in my cell next to hers. They made it back. He hurry's into the cell and I hear the reunion unfold. He holds onto his sister as she coughs from the illness. Relief washes over me that they came back with medicine, but pain still lingers inside. It's not pain from the flu, or exhaustion, but pain from Daryl. Where is he? Why isn't he coming to see me? I wait longer, allowing time to pass before allowing myself to further get disappointed. I don't know how but I managed to wait till sunrise before the feelings of sadness turn to anger towards him. Part of me wishes I had died from the flu, at least the pain was more bearable then this one. The pain of a heartache for a man who suddenly, in an instant, wants nothing to do with me. At least if I was dead my heart wouldn't be shattered like it is right now.


	22. Chapter 22: Another Stand

A day passed and my body is recovering enough to move around and check on everyone else still recovering. With the medicine working and me healing enough to help, Hershel leaves the quarantined area and I take over. Glenn rests, taking longer to recover since he was worse off and closer to death. Sasha and I manage to clean up the mess from the night before, no one else but Tyreese and Maggie come in to help us. Even with the medicine, Rick doesn't want anyone else catching it. That would mean more medicine to share, more to waste. I try not to think about Daryl, because when I do my body burns up and things get hazy. I don't care what Rick told everyone, if Daryl wanted to see me he would have by now. I rest on the bed, reading a book Hershel left for me when I hear an explosion. I run out of the quarantined cell, the door no longer locked and make my way out into the bright sunlight. I cover my eyes from the sun and walk towards the crowd formed at the gate "what's going on?" I whisper to Sasha.

"It's the governor" she says back.

My breath stops and I lower my hands to see in front of me. "It's not up to me. There's a council now." Rick shouts out. The rest of us stand behind him staring down at the small army in front of us. "They run this place."

"Is Hershel on the council?" He shouts back the question. A few moments pass when we see Hershel limping out of a car and put down onto his knee's. Maggie and Beth gasp at his site and hold on to each other's hands. "What about Michonne?" He asks. "She on the council, too?" And Michonne is led out right after that, put right next to Hershel on her knee's.

I can hear Rick's breathing pick up from behind him "I don't make decisions anymore." He spits out loudly.

"You're making the decisions today, Rick." He informs him. "Come down here. Let's... Let's have that talk." The Governor says calmly.

Rick looks to his side, to Daryl who nods very slightly. He then turns to his son and puts a hand to his face. Carl nods just as Daryl did "We can do this. All right?" Rick says in the smallest voice possible. He heads away from us, down to the field.

Daryl moves closer to the group and I comment "we can't take 'em all on."

He looks at me and then to everyone else "we'll go through the admin building, through the woods like we planned. We ain't got the numbers no more." he explains. "When's the last time someone checked the stash on the bus?" He asks.

"Day before we hit the Big Spot. We were running low on rations then. We're lower now." Sasha tells him.

"Yeah, we'll manage. Things go south, everyone heads for that bus. Let everybody know." Daryl directs, going to walk away.

"What if everybody doesn't know when things go bad? How long do we wait?" Tyreese asks.

"As long as we can." He says back, he then grabs a hold of my wrist and tugs for me to follow him. Although I want to pull away it's the first time he touched me in days and I yearn for him take a hold of my hand. We go inside the cell block, one I haven't been in since I was sick. "Can you get Judith's stuff together?" He asks me.

I nod, happy to be on Judith duty and not expected to kill anyone. He nods after I do and goes to walk away "Daryl, wait!" I say back to him. He stops and looks at me, waiting for what I am going to say "Why didn't you come see me?" I blurt out.

He puffs out "cause there's more important shit goin' on than you, Sadie-Mae."

His words hurt, and the anger pours out "Tyreese came in, Maggie.. why not you?" I push further.

He paces 3 steps before turning "cuz' they got someone to watch out for, someone they care about" he says.

"You don't?" I ask him, not believing what he's saying.

"I don't" He stares me in the eyes, stepping closer to me holding my stare.

I hold back tears from forming in my eyes "so the past couple months, meant nothing?" I ask. I tried to get it to come out as firm as possible, but my voice was shaking and it came out more like a loud whisper.

"Guess not" he spits back.

"I don't believe you" I argue.

"Look, the governor is down there right now with 2 of our people. This ain't the time nor the place to pick a fight!" His voice raises. Judith stirs from her sleep and Daryl's eyes soften at the sound "I just can't do what you need me to do." his voice lowers as he turns to walk away.

"Fine." I say back as he leaves "Bye, Daryl" I say as I walk to pick up the baby to soothe her. "It's okay Judith, it'll be okay." I hold her, rocking my body back and forth.

"We need to get to the bus" Mika comes in with 2 other kids, carrying Judith's car seat.

"Here" I strap the baby in "take her to the bus, I will get her food.. I'll be right there" I direct them. "Straight there!" The 3 of them go off and I move through the cell block throwing things in a bag for Judith. As I finish getting things together I hear screaming and then a gunshot. Something happened and this isn't going to end well. I hold my breath, trying to think of what to do. I need to protect Judith, get her to the bus and go. I throw her bag over my shoulder and go through the jail. I get on the bus "where's Judith? Mika?" I ask looking through the faces.

"Not here" Glenn breathes heavily from the front "Beth went to look for Judith, Maggie for her" He gets out. "please, go get them?" He begs me desperately.

"I will!" I shout back to him, already going back down the stairs to find them. I go back through the way I came from, gunshots and explosions still going off. I make my way out another way, through a court yard and see Judith's car seat in front of me. "Judith!" I shout out running to it. "No, no. Judith!" I cry. The seat is stained with blood but nothing else is in it. I look around me desperately searching for someone to be holding her, to tell me she's safe and keep moving but there is no one around. "no, no, no..." I cry holding onto the seat, clutching at it.

"You killed another one." My little sister's voice rings through my ears.

"No, no, no!" I whisper out loud, hitting my head to get her out of it "you're not real, you're not real!" I say.

"If you just killed yourself before, she would be alive" she says to me. I see her feet a distance away but do not look up to meet her eyes.

I shake my head "she can still be alive, she can be" I argue with myself.

"You don't believe that, look at all that blood" she reminds me.

Tears fall faster down my face and I look up, her little body holding what looks like a baby in her arms "GO AWAY!" I shout out loudly to her. I blink hard and when I open them she is gone, but in her place are two figures stumbling out from the smoke. They get closer and it's Rick and Carl. The young boy helping his bloodied father stand. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" I whisper as they get closer, getting close enough to see what I am gripping at.

"No." Rick cries, stumbling over his son. "Carl. Carl." He stands up before pushing them both to the ground, gripping to his son.

He sobs, as does Carl at what they see. "I, I'm sorry" I sob as well.

"We've got to get out of here." Rick cries out, his son stumbled over with grief. "We've got to go. Shh. Shh. Shh. It's over. It's over. It's over." He tries to console his son through the pain they are both sharing. I stand up, putting my other arm around Rick and the 3 of us slowly make our way out of the jail court yard towards the woods.

We make it out, the sun setting behind us. Carl goes to look at what used to be "don't look back, Carl." His dad directs him. "Just keep walking."


	23. Chapter 23: Fighting One Another

We walk for miles, stumbling through the woods. Carl takes the lead as I continue to help Rick walk, both of us exhausted. He's beaten up pretty badly and I'm still recovering from the illness. "Carl, slow down." Rick yells after his son, his pace quicker than what we can keep up with. "Carl, stop!" He yells.

He stops, not turning to face him "we need to stay together." I tell him, Rick moving on his own towards his son.

"We got to find a place with food and supplies" he says walking over to him. His breath is heavy, I can hear it from where I am still standing and he puts his hand on his son's shoulder "Hey. We're gonna be.."

But Carl walks off, brushing past his father. A few more miles we find a town and make our way to the building that looks most intact. "I put myself against the wall, letting them go in while I take watch "I'll stay here" I tell them.

"Wait outside, okay? Keep watch with her." Rick directs his son after opening the door slowly.

"You keep watch." He snarls back to his dad. "You can barely stand. I'm not gonna let you go in there alone."

Rick asks him "Excuse me?"

Carl defends himself "we've done this before. I'm gonna help you clear it." He says. He pauses before mumbling "you should just let me do it myself."

Rick stares him down, but Carl stares back. Rick reluctantly agrees "let's go." and opens the door "Whistle if you see anything" he tells me before they disappear. A gun shot goes off inside and I stand up, moving to the door. I wait, and listen to them yell at one another "Hey!" I shout out stopping them. "Get what you can and let's move on!" I remind them before turning back to the street.

Carl comes out first with a bag slung over his arm. Rick limps out afterwards and we move out of the town. We walk for miles again, trying to stay shaded in the tree's while following a railroad track. We find a neighborhood, and make our way through some streets. As we walk, Rick looks to me and nods towards a house. I look it over, nod back and he calls out to his son "Hey. Hey. Hey. That one's as good as any." He says.

We walk up the porch and Rick slams the door in. We walk in slowly and I close the door behind me. Carl goes one way, Rick another and I make my way behind Carl, wanting him to be safe. "Carl." Rick calls after him, not wanting him to go off on his own.

"I got it. All the doors down here are open." Carl argues back.

"Just stop!" Rick demands in a loud horse whisper.

Carl exhales, clearly annoyed or frustrated with Rick. He turns and begins to pound on the wall "hey, asshole! Hey, shitface! - Hey-" He screams out."

"Watch your mouth!" Rick yells back to him, his eyes in a craze.

"Are you kidding me?" Carl asks rhetorically. "If there's one of them down there, they would have come out." Rick stares and Carl goes off again.

"Hey, it's alright. I'll stay close behind him" I whisper out to Rick who just nods to thank me before moving on himself.

Carl goes upstairs and I follow behind him slowly. I reach the doorway he's in and peer inside "pretty cool room" I smile to him. He looks at me and stares back at the television screen in front of him.

"Doesn't really matter" He comments before knocking off the video games and working at a wire behind the television.

"Whatcha doin'?" I ask. Carl's a smart kid, always thinking and planning. He always wanted to fight at the jail, even though Rick wouldn't allow it after his mother. I don't know what I can do to help mend their broken relationship, but I want to try. He ignores me and moves out of the room.

After clearing the house we go back to the living room to set up our resting place. Carl uses the wire to tie a knot to keep the door closed while Rick begins to push the couch towards the door. "I tied the door shut." Carl looks over his shoulder when he hears it move.

"We don't need to take any chances. Sadie-Mae, give me a hand?" Rick asks. I nod and make my way over to Rick to help push.

"You don't think it'll hold?" Carl asks.

"Carl." I sigh out, not wanting them to fight.

Carl ignores me, staring at his father "it's a strong knot. Clove hitch. Shane taught me. Remember him?" He asks angrily.

Rick doesn't hesitate to respond "yeah, I remember him. I remember him every day. There something else you want to say to me?" He grills his son. Carl doesn't answer and just moves to the couch to help us move it against the door. "This'll have to do for the night." Rick says wheezing out after getting it into place.

He sits down and I take a seat next to him, rummaging through the bag. I take out some of the chips we found and go to pass them to Carl "you gonna have some?" He asks us.

"You should eat." Rick says staring down at the floor.

"We should save it." Carl says back before getting a blanket and folding it.

"Let him be" I encourage Rick, his jaw line tense.

He shakes his head and stands up, grabbing the bag from my hand "hey" he thrusts the bag towards him.

"I don't want any." Carl retorts again.

Rick throws the bag to the ground "Eat it." He demands again, moving away from him "now." He adds on before leaving the room.

Carl stares at the bag "Come on, I'll help you eat em'" I say to him, trying to lighten his mood. He sighs and picks it up off the floor before coming back to sit next to me.

"Are you scared?" He asks me as I eat the first one.

"I'm always scared" I tell him honestly. Even before the dead came back, ever since my sister died I've been scared, scared to live.

"I'm not" He says back eating now. "This is the way the world is now, we need to keep moving, it's not safe to stay in one place anymore" He says to me.

"I don't believe that. The prison was a good place. We were safe for awhile" I remind him.

"Bullshit" he mumbles back. "After the Governor left we were never save, he was always out there. I was wrong when I said we should stay and fight. I know that now." he takes a hand full from the bag and moves to another part of the floor in the room. I don't have the words to respond to him, I don't know what to tell him.


	24. Chapter 24: Defeated

"Wake up! Wake up! Dad! Wake up!" I hear Carl yelling. I sit up off the floor and see him shaking his father.

"Carl?" I shout back to him.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" He shouts either ignoring me or not hearing me.

There's a thud at the door and growling from the walkers. The handle begins to raddle and I whisper out towards Carl again "Carl." He looks at me and I put my finger to my mouth, directing him to be quiet.

I slip my boots on and we go out the back door walking around to the front. Two walkers are at the door "hey, you! Fresh meat right here. Come and get it." Carl calls out to them. They turn at their new target and stumble off the porch. "Let's take a walk." He says coaxing them.

"Carl, let's take care of them now." I put my hand to my knife.

"No!" He yells at me as we move backwards "we need to get them away from here" He says. I relunctly agree and follow his lead "keep up. That's it. Keep coming. Very good." He says out loud to them. "Come on, keep coming. Come on." He walks behind another house. "Right here, look at me. There you go. Come on. That's it, just a little farther. Come on."

I hear something, something different than the other two walkers and turn just as a third one is coming towards Carl. "Look out!" I yell going to tackle it off of him.

"Oh shit!" Carl yells as we hit the ground. As I fight against the one below me for another grip to stab it I see Carl fall to the ground, a walker he shot now on top of him.

"Carl!" I yell out as another comes towards him, his upper body available for it to eat. He shoots it, three times until it falls on top of him again. I am able to stab the one I am fighting as he tries to wriggle out from the dead corpses.

I help him up and he turns away from me to hurl. I put my hand on his back until he is done and just lifts his body up to look back at the things he just killed "I win" he comments to them before walking back towards the house.

I stare after him, wondering what kind of game he thinks he's playing. When I get back to the house I walk in slowly, hearing Carl talk to his father. "I still know how to survive. Lucky for us. I don't need you anymore. I don't need you to protect me anymore." I make it to the door frame, and rest against it, listening, watching as Carl has it out with his passed out father. "I can take care of myself. You probably can't even protect me anyways. You couldn't protect Judith. You couldn't protect.." He pauses. "Hershel or Glenn or Maggie. Michonne, Sadie, Daryl, or Mom. You just wanted to plant vegetables. You just wanted to hide. He knew where we were and you didn't care! You just hid behind those fences and waited for..They're all gone now. Because of you! They counted on you! You were their leader!" He goes to ground, putting his head in his knee's and sniffles. "But now you're nothing." He goes to stand up, spilling the stuff on the floor to take the back and makes one more comment before leaving "I'd be fine if you died."

He storms out, seeing me but not caring and I follow him "Carl..stop!" I yell towards him.

"Leave me alone!" He shouts out to me not turning.

"Please, talk to me." I try to keep up.

"No!" He shouts out stopping and turning. "I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to talk to him. I just want to be left alone!"

Although I don't want him to go off on his own right now, I know it'd just make him more pissed if I followed him. I sigh before nodding back "fine. But be back before sundown" I tell him and he nods turning back away to leave. I go back to the house and sit at Rick's feet, dwelling on everything he just said to his father.

That night, as I lay on the floor a crying wakes me up. I sit up, worried about what's going on and see Carl's silhouette pushed against furniture a gun pointed out. I move to him quickly, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him into my chest. Rick is on the floor wheezing out towards us, his arm outstretched. I know what he's crying at, his dad had passed and is now a walker. Carl's arm shakes as he keeps it pointed to his father, tears now in my eyes as well. His arm lowers, the gun falls to the ground and he whimpers "I can't. I was wrong. Just do it." and cries more.

Rick's hand falls on Carl's foot and he cries further. I reach for the gun, not going to let Carl die and point it to Rick "Carl" he manages to wheeze out and I exhale deeply, relieved he's not a walker. The gun lowers into my lap now as the three of us stay on the floor in emotional distress. Rick adjusts his body, clearly using all his strength to reach out to his son "don't go outside. Stay safe" he gets out before falling back down to the ground in a heap.

Carl quickly moves to his dad, putting his head in his lap and cries to him "I'm scared" he says "I'm scared." And as he cries to his father, I turn away from them crying to myself for all that I lost, for all the fear inside of me. I wonder if Daryl is okay, if he made it out of prison, or if he fell with it to ashes. I try to make myself numb again, numb to the world around me, but I can't anymore. Daryl, Rick, Carl. All these people changed who I am and I'm angry at them for that. Angry that I care about them, angry that I care about myself again.

In the morning Rick wakes up before Carl does "Rick, you need to talk to Carl" I whisper out to him when he's set up against the couch. I sit up, taking it for the night and he looks over to me wondering what I mean. I exhale "he's strong, but emotionally.." I trail off.

"Alright" He whispers back. I nod to him slowly getting off the couch and go to go upstairs, to give them some privacy. I wander around the closet in the master bedroom, trying to find something to change into. The women who lived here was larger than I am now but I find a shirt that won't be too large. After changing the top and the socks I've been wearing I hear a faint knock from the door. I quickly stumble down the steps and pause when I see Rick and Carl, guns ready.

Rick slowly looks through the peep hole and turns with a sigh. A smile crosses his face and he looks to his son "it's for you" he says. Carl's head turns to the side not following "go on, go get em" He says with a smile. Carl quickly turns, going to the back door to go around. When the door closes Rick's eyes meet my curious ones and he tells me "Michonne." My heart beats fast at the relief and I smile wide. We can come back together from this, we can start again.


	25. Chapter 25: Rest

"Where are they going?" I ask Rick when he comes back in. I stumbled downstairs and watched through the window.

"Get some supplies" he tells me, going to push the couch against the door again.

I scurry over to where he is and help him "I could go and help" I suggest.

He grunts after it clunks against the wall "we both should rest.. you're still recovering from the flu and me.." he looks down at himself "well, I'm a mess all around." He lightly chuckles.

I smile with a little laugh as well "I found some bandages upstairs, let's get you cleaned up a bit." He nods and follows me up the stairs. I grab the first aid kit I found hidden in the back of a bathroom closet and bring it over to Rick.

I enter the bedroom and Rick's torn shirt is on the floor "think some ribs broke" he comments slowly lifting an arm up, wincing in pain. I unwrap some of the gauze and carefully wrap it around his stomach. He does his best not to wince and I tape it after a few wraps.

"Want me to re-wrap the hand?" I ask him.

He shakes his head "nah, save it" he tells me before moving to a dresser. He rummages through it for a moment before pulling out a white shirt and throwing it over his body. He sits on the bed, putting his head into his hand and exhales "I'm worried Sadie.." he tells me.

"About Carl?" I ask him.

He nods "ever since Lori.." He trails off. Rick and I haven't talked about her since then, but I know how much she meant to him. Even after everything came to light with Shane, Rick loved her through everything. I sit up, and rest my hand on his shoulder but don't saying anything, encouraging him to go on, to talk. "Carl is all I have left of her. If something happens to him, I wouldn't be able to go on. I wouldn't want to." He confides.

"Nothing is going to happen to him." I encourage. I believe it though, I know Carl is a fighter, he'll be just fine. Rick sighs, pulling a watch out of his pocket and looking at it. He places it on the nightstand and moves to lay down.

I move over a little in the small bed and lay down as well. We both stare up to the popcorn ceiling, our breath falling in sync with one another's "you know I thought once I found them that everything was going to be okay." He tells me.

I smile, remembering the moment he told me he found them. "Yanno, I was happy for you when you told me you found them, after getting me from that hospital." I remind him. "I was also scared.. I was worried that with them around you wouldn't need me around anymore.. Or that she wouldn't want me around.." I confide something back to him.

He chuckles and responds "Lori was a bit jealous at first, she was worried about you" he shakes his head just a bit. I can feel the pillow move under the weight.

"that's crazy.. all you did from the moment you woke up was search for her and Carl" I laugh along with him.

"She had this crazy idea of getting you and Shane together." He tilts his head just a little to look at me. "I told her to leave it all be, but I guess looking back at it now she had her own reasons for it.." He looks away saying the second part, the dark side of their past floating back to the surface.

"Shane and I had our moments, and our differences." I try and describe what it was to Rick. I don't know what he knows now, but I don't care to talk about it either "but I'm sure he was a great guy before-" I stop from continuing, my point getting made. I think I truly believe that though. A guy like Rick wouldn't have been friends with him all those years if he wasn't a good person at some point.

"I think Lori finally realized she had nothing to worry about when you came out that morning at the CDC." he says, a yawn escaping his mouth. I move my head off the pillow to look at him, not sure what he meant "you came out to breakfast in Daryl's shirt. Her and I just chuckled to one another.. We didn't see that happening" he explains.

I laugh now, remembering that moment "actually, nothing even happened with Daryl then.." I stop, his name bringing up emotions I don't want to feel right now.

I turn my body away from Rick, curling my legs just a bit "Don't worry, I'm sure he got out" Rick puts a hand on my arm now.

"Yea, probably" I mumble back closing my eyes.

"He's probably searching everywhere for you right now" He squeezes just a little for reinforcement.

"Doubt it. Daryl and I kind of-" I trail off. We were never really dating, terms like boyfriend and girlfriend seem so irrelevant in this world "we just aren't.." I get out.

Rick keeps his arm there for a few more moments before moving it "I'm sorry" I hear him sigh out.

"It's fine.." I say back keeping my eyes closed. I don't want to talk about him, I just want to sleep and let the darkness take over my body.

A man's painful yell stirs me from my sleep and I open my eyes wide. I turn my head to Rick whose eyes are wide as well. He eyes me, telling me to stay quiet with just a look and I nod telling him I would.

"You plan on finishing the job?" A voice calls to someone.

Another one answers "I'm getting an earache and I know he's just gonna let his ass squeal."

There's at least 3 of them, not including the one they hurt "after what he did, the man deserves to bleed." Rick grabs his watch from the stand and looks at it. "Y'all stay down there if ya want" I hear the man say and Rick motions for me to get up and move. I move quickly to the wall, pushing myself up against it as Rick and I listen to the footsteps get louder. My heart races as sweat pours down my face as I worry about whoever is here. A door from upstairs opens and Rick peaks his head out to look. He quickly comes back in and points down to the bed. I slide underneath, moving as close as possible to the middle next to Rick. I look up and see the boots of the man upstairs come back into the hallway just as Rick swooped back in from attempting to grab something off the side table. The boots are gone and Rick places the water bottle in front of him, his hands shaking. We eye each other with worry as the boots return and enter the bedroom we lie in. The man searches the room, opening the closet door and moving around. Rick holds his ticking watch close to him and the man soon plops down onto the bed. We lower our heads closer to the floor, staring at each other as he begins to fall asleep.


	26. Chapter 26: Close Call

After snoring for a few minutes Rick decides it's time to move from there. As he starts to move footsteps sound off the wooden steps and he quickly gets back under the bed. We hold our breaths as he approaches the room "Yo" he calls out to whoever is sleeping "Comfy?" He asks the man.

The sleeping man grumbles "you waking me up to see if I'm comfortable?"

He grits back "I want to lie down."

The one on the bed responds "two other bedrooms up here to choose."

"Them's kids' beds. I want this one." He retorts back.

"It's claimed." He returns.

The one standing by Rick's head answers "I didn't hear it. You gonna have to lay claim somewhere else." He tells him. One of them must attack the other as they grunt while fighting. Their feet stumble about the room before a body plummets to the ground.

The man lies face up, and I inch backwards in fear. I stare at Rick, wondering what to do but he just stares ahead at the man on the ground. The man on the ground tries to fight back but soon his face is back on the ground, this time right on the wooden floor. His eyes slowly open and widen when he see's us under the bed. "Len! Len, stop! Stop, Len! Stop!" He tries to tell his friend, or whoever it is attacking him to stop, to tell him about us hiding.

"Hell, no." The man grunts gripping tightly onto his throat.

"Stop!" He tries more but soon his eyes roll shut and he stops resisting.

"My bed now, jack off" the man, Len, jumps on the bed sighing out happily.

The man falls asleep as the other one did rather quickly and Rick nods at me to move out. I slowly move around Len's leg as it sprawls off the bed and wait for Rick to follow me. He stands up, but we hear someone call up to us "Tony, Len, get your asses down here!" He shouts. He bounces something against the floor as we see him walking up the stairs. Rick and I quickly dart into another bedroom, a boy's room and I go to the bedroom and hide to the right of the door, Rick to the left. "Yo, you hear me?" He asks, his voice closer now. We push ourselves against the walls and stare at each other. The man enters the room, bouncing the ball against the floor. I close my eyes, focusing on my breathing when the sound of the ball against the wood in the room jolt them open. Rick keeps his eyes on me, wide and worried. I eye his hands in fists, reminded that his gun is now with Carl. The man moves out of the room and I allow myself to breath out just slightly. I pull the knife out of my pants and go to hand it to Rick but he moves to a window and tries to open it. All the windows in here are painted shut.

"Rick." I try to get his attention with a small whisper but he either doesn't hear me or ignores it, moving further into the bedroom.

"Claim, claim, claim!" The man yells out.

Len, the one in the bed responds "shut the hell up. I'm trying to sleep."

One of the men downstairs yells out "there's a woman shacking up in here."

"Say what?" One of the two upstairs with us answers back. Rick's eyes grow wider as he looks at me, rage flies through him and my heart pounds into my chest. How the hell do they know about me? I wonder to myself. I grip my knife tightly, worried I'll have to use it. Rick takes a hold of a trophy in the room, I can't tell but it looks like a hockey player on it, maybe lacrosse.

"Come on down!" He shouts back.

"She hot?" One of them asks. We hear multiple footsteps and hide from being seen from the hall.

The man downstairs calls back "don't grab your pecker just yet. She ain't here."

Rick and I exchange a glance "what the hell you hollering about?" one of them asks.

They descend downstairs "found her shirt. Must have washed it this morning." He answers. Michonne washed her shirt this morning before leaving, she left it hanging up to dry. "Smells good." He adds on.

"Oh, you found a shirt? She could be miles away by now." One of the other men say as they leave the upper level. Rick peaks just for a moment and pops back in to nod at me to follow him.

"Why'd she go to all the trouble of washing a shirt when she's just gonna ditch it? She'll be back." He explains to them.

I worry about Michonne and Carl as we move rooms. They can come back any minute now, walk right up to them. "I call first when she gets here." The hick from the bed, Len, calls to them all.

"Who knows who else she got with her." One says back. "We need to be ready for anything. Len, take the side room." He directs.

"Hold on, let me get a gun." Len calls back and quick footsteps are heard as he runs up the stairs. I move to the closest door, the bathroom, and Rick follows me. He turns to face me once the door is closed but my eyes are trained to his side. Rick glances at the man sitting down and quickly lunges at him. The trophy hitting him in the chest and startling him. They fight one another and I see the man going for the machine gun on the counter. I quickly grab it so he can't but he knocks me to the ground and I drop it. The man has Rick against the wall, both of them clamping one another's throats. I grab a hold of the scissors I spot on the counter and quickly move behind the man. I raise my arm high to stab him but he spots me at the last second. He sends his elbow into my face and I land on my ass but notice the tool bloody on the ground. My focus is back on the man as he comes after me now, Rick in a heap on the floor catching his breath. The man gets on top of me with an evil grin but begins to struggle when Rick puts the gun to his throat and squeezes it towards himself. They both struggle but ultimately he fails as he looses consciousness and falls to the floor.

Rick rushes over to my side, he gives me a knowing look, an 'you okay' look and I nod, telling him I'll be fine. He turns back to the door, aiming the gun at it while catching his breath. I stand up, going to the window to open it. It opens quietly and I psst for Rick to start moving. He helps me up, allowing me to put my leg on his to hoist and I get on the roof first. Rick hands me the gun and climbs out behind me. Rick goes to jump down first. He swings the gun around his shoulder and slowly lowers himself down. He hangs on the drain pipe, getting ready to let go when it snaps under his weight and he falls quickly. He gestures for me to come down quickly and I do. I lower myself down as fast as I can and land loudly on the porch. I stumble forward into Rick on impact and he accepts the tumble and holds me close as we hug the wall. We wait for a few moments for someone to come out the door but they don't so we move off the back porch and onto the ground. We hover to the brick foundation as we move around the house towards the front door. As we get closer, the door opens and a familiar bouncing sound echoes through the air. The man walks slowly on the porch, bouncing the ball when it suddenly stops. Rick slowly peaks up to see if he's gone but he ducks down quickly, eyeing right above us to signal he's there. The man spits to the side, almost landing on Rick's foot before he starts to whistle. We stay crouched in the dead leaves, ready to wait it out when I see Michonne and Carl in the distance. I tap Rick on the leg to get his attention. When he looks at me I nod my head in the direction and he looks. I can see him curse under his own breath and drops his head for only a second. He raises his hand up slowly, ready to attack the man to save them and I grip my knife tightly. Just as he is about to reach the ledge a man inside starts to yell out. "Stop her!" He yells. We hear footsteps on the ground again "Kill her, kill her!" Someone yells at the door to the house opens quickly.

Rick darts to his son and I follow behind him quickly "go! go!" He shouts in a whisper to them and we all run away from the house to seek safety elsewhere.

We make our way away from the houses and back towards the railroad tracks from earlier. We start walking, not turning for anything. Carl whips out a can of cheese, asks with a smile if I want any. I smile, taking it from him "used to hate this crap" I say as I start to squeeze some in my mouth.

Carl laughs as I hand it back to him, squeezing some into his mouth as well "it's like gravy now, ain't it?" He asks me. I nod, wiping my mouth of any left over.

We walk over to an old train container. On it lies a sign. The sign reads "Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive, survive." Underneath that is a map with a star around an area labeled 'Terminus.' All four of us stare at it, wondering what to do. Michonne is the one to ask "what do you think?"

I look to Rick, knowing that's who she is really asking and wait for his answer. He pauses, looking at the three of us. He answers "let's go" and we make our way forward again.


	27. Chapter 27: A New Years Gathering

"How hungry are you, scale of one to 10?" Rick asks Carl as we sit around at a made up camp site.

"15" Carl says to him.

He looks at Michonne "28" she smiles to him.

He looks to me "52" I rattle another higher number.

We all laugh together "Yeah." he says "well, it's been a while. I'm gonna go check the snares." He stands up to leave.

"Can I go with you?" Carl asks him.

Rick smiles down at his son "well, how else are you gonna learn?" Carl smiles wider and goes to stand up. "Hey, you two too." Rick adds on to Michonne and I.

"Of course" I roll my eyes with a grin and stomp out the smokey pit and we all walk off.

"We'll stay another day or two. Get some more rest." Rick tells us as we walk along.

"Finish healing up?" She asks.

Rick answers her "I'm almost there."

She looks to me now "I'm better, no more sweats." I inform her.

She smiles back, happy we're both healing. "We're close now, right?" Carl asks.

"To Terminus?" I ask.

"Yeah. We are." Rick says.

"When we get there, are we gonna tell them?" Carl asks next.

"Tell them what?" I ask him, not sure what he means.

Carl answers "everything that's happened to us. All the stuff we've done. Are we gonna tell them the truth?"

We all keep walking, but I can tell Rick doesn't like what he asked. He sighs before answering "we're gonna tell them who we are.

Carl slows down just a bit "But how do you say that? I mean... who are we?"

A walker snarling towards us grabs all of our attention. Michonne takes the lead and slices through it's skull and the body thuds to the ground. We keep walking a bit further up and Rick shuffles ahead when he see's the trap. "There you go. It's a small one. It'll do." Rick takes the rabbit out of the knot and stuffs it in a bag for later. He pulls at the knot to explain "So, this is just a simple-"

"Slipknot" I finish the sentence for him. All three of them looked at me shocked. "Daryl taught me" I shrug, remembering some of the runs we went out on after he taught me how to use a bow.

"Right." Rick says remembering. "You tie one on both ends, then you tighten one side to a branch." He moves his hands along the ground "now, you see how the ground here is sort of like a funnel shape?"

"It's a trail?" Carl asks catching on. Michonne and I watch from above as they squat next to one another.

Rick encourages him "that's right. That's where you want to set the noose. So you hide it with leaves. Then you put sticks all around it so any animals going by have to run this way right into the trap." He swoops his arm through it for demonstration and it ties around his wrist.

"Help! Somebody help!" A man is calling out into the woods.

Carl runs after the noise "Carl." Rick calls to him but he's gone.

"I got him!" I shout back to Rick already on his trail.

I can hear him still call after his son "Carl, stop! Carl!"

We get closer to the yelling man "Get back! Help! Somebody help! Help me! Get away! No! Get away! Help! Somebody help!"

Carl lifts his gun up to shoot, to help him but I pull back at him. I pull him behind a tree "we can't help him." I whisper to him.

The man begins to scream in pain "No, no no!" and Rick gets here and starts to pull us away.

"We got to go" he says and we all run towards the train tracks again.

We are on a road now, the fall leaves covering the ground. We move along, as walkers weave in and our of the tree's. "Thought maybe there'd be some houses down this way. Maybe even a store." Michonne comments as the day goes on "there's got to be some food around here somewhere."

"Hey, look." Carl points to a truck in the road. The walker on the side is decayed into the ground. I quickly take it out as they check in and around the truck. We set up camp there tonight, Carl and I the first to sleep, will take second watch in a few hours.

There's a pounding on the window and I sit up from the back seat "Another girlies in here too.." I hear a man laugh. Carl is is in the front seat, but I can see him shaking from where I sit.

"She blonde?" Someone calls out. The man croons his neck and looks through the smaller back window at me.

"She is" he yells back and a wide smile crosses his lips.

"Now who's gonna count down the ball dropper with me, huh? Ten Mississippi. Nine Mississippi. Eight Mississippi." The man pointing the gun to Rick's head counts.

"Joe! Hold up." Someone calls to him. It's not just someone though, I know that voice. My body freezes, wondering what he's doing here, what he's doing with them. Was he in the house with them? Was he just downstairs that day?

"You're stopping me on eight, Daryl?" I hear him ask. Carl keeps his eyes straight ahead. The back window on the side of the drivers seat is blocked, and I can't see him from the back seat.

I stay motionless, not breathing waiting for him to speak again. "Just hold up."

"This is the guy and girl that killed Lou, so we got nothing to talk about." Another one says. They out number us, even without Daryl, they'll take us down.

"The thing about nowadays is we got nothing but time." The man holding a gun to Rick's head says back "say your piece, Daryl."

"These people, you're gonna let 'em go. These are good people." Daryl tells them. He's with us, no matter where he was before this, he's still with us.

"Now, I think Lou would disagree with you on that. I'll, of course, have to speak for him and all 'cause your friend here, well they done strangled him in a bathroom." Is the man's response. My head drops just a little. Rick was the one to end his life, but I wasn't going to stop him. I know what would have happened if they found us, what's going to happen tonight.

Daryl responds, he steps further in front of the truck now and I see him throw his bow to the side "you want blood, I get it. Take it from me, man."

"This man killed our friend. You say he's good people. See, now that right there is a lie. It's a lie!" The leader, Joe, gets louder. The others start to surround him and Daryl quivers as he gets hit with a weapon. "Teach him, fellas. Teach him all the way." He yells as the attack him.

"Daryl!" I shout, jumping to the front seat to get out. His face lands on the car, his head turned in and our eyes connect.

"Come here, boy." the car door opens and my attention is broken. The guy is reaching for Carl, he goes to fight him back but is too small. I kick the guy in the face, trying to help Carl. He stumbles back but still has a hold of Carl's foot and he is dragged out of the truck.

"Get the bitch in the truck!" The scum with Carl yells out. I try to go back for my knife but one of the other men who was attacking Daryl opens the door and drags me out.

"Daryl!" I shout through the chaos. I can't see him, I cant see anything but my face in a pile of leaves.

"See, now that's right. That's not some damn lie. Look, we can settle this. We're reasonable men. First, we're gonna beat Daryl to death. Then we'll have the girl, the one with the dreads. Then the boy. Then we'll have the other girl, she was there with you, should be painful for her too. Then I'm gonna shoot you and then we'll be square." I hear Joe laughing as he says all of this to Rick, but loud enough for everyone of us to hear.

Tears fall from my face into the damp leaves "Rick.. Daryl.." I cry to them scared. I continue to try and fight, to get myself out of this man's grip but I don't know if I'm strong enough.

"Hey, I claimed you first bitch, stop fightin and lets get this party started!" He tries to hold me down and undo his buckle at the same time.

A gun shot goes off, the attention of the man holding me wavering for a moment. I try to use it to get away, but he quickly over powers me, knocking me in the head. Everything gets dizzy but I fight, I fight against him. I'd rather die fighting than live through what they are going to do to me, to all of us. The man turns me onto my back, and stares at me with grotesque lust. I turn my head, searching for Daryl. I spot him, as he tumbles to the ground. He stumbles, trying to come over to me but a man stops him, picking him up around his collar and throwing him towards the car. There's a loud scream, a male's scream and it grabs everyone's attention. I push the man off of me as he stares around the truck. A gun shot goes off again and I am able to see that Michonne just killed the man who saw us under the bed with his own gun. Rick is walking towards his son and Daryl just knocked out one of the men hitting him hard. Another goes to take a swing at Daryl with his knife but I grab a hold of it and pull it backwards. He wasn't expecting me and his arm jerks incorrectly. He screeches out and Daryl turns to finish the job. When he turns from killing him, the man who was straddling me lunges him and they fall to the ground. I run to the front of the truck, quickly loading Daryl's bow and move closer to them. I've only shot his bow out on one run and I wasn't very good. I had just gotten good at the bow I was using, but wanted to try it out then.

My heart beats in my chest as I raise it up, staring him down. I look up for a moment, and see Daryl, losing his strength. The man's hands clench around his throat blocking his airway. I release the bow in that moment and it goes right through his chest. The man releases his grip and falls to the side in a heap. I drop the bow to my side and just as it hits the ground I feel myself falling as well. "I got you. Don't worry" I hear him tell me before I can hit the pavement.


	28. Chapter 28: Sleepless Night

"Hey..hey.." Someone shakes me. I open my eyes in fear. I jolt upwards, worrying where I am. "It's okay, you're safe" Rick's voice tells me.

He's in front of me. His face covered in old blood. Its been wiped down a bit, but it's still stained. Memory floods my brain with what happened and my heart sinks into my stomach "where is he?" I ask in a horse whisper.

Rick just glances behind me, a little eye movement is all it took and I turn my head quickly. My eyes meet his, only inches apart and I rest my head on his chest letting tears fall from my eyes "Sadie-Mae" he says my name when I grip him tightly "you're okay."

I can feel Rick move next to me and hear his foot steps. He goes around to the other side of the truck and gets in leaving us alone. The tears stop and I lift myself off his chest. I adjust so that I'm facing him, ready to talk "I was worried about you." I tell him lowly.

"I know" he says back, moving a strand of hair from my face.

I move my head away "please don't" I whisper out turning my head to the side. He moves his hand away, his eyes search mine for an answer. "You really hurt me Daryl. I can't just forget about what happened at the prison" I say.

He sighs, biting his lower lip thinking. "I just.." he goes to start talking but stops "I'm sorry.. I aint used to havin' someone care about me, havin' someone wanna be wit me" he says.

"and that's changed somehow now?" I ask him, searching his eyes for an answer.

He shrugs "yea. I was out there" he nods his heads towards the woods "I was with Beth. We got out together. I was with her for a while.." he tells me. I feel jealousy stir inside of me, but I contain it letting him go on "she showed me that it's okay to care, to let someone care."

"Is she dead?" I ask.

He shakes his head, looking away from me "she's just gone. I couldn't save her, couldn't save you."

"I'm just broken right now Daryl" I tell him, thinking of my words carefully "and the fact that Beth made you realize it's okay to let someone care about you, and not me, it hurts me even more.." I say.

"it wasn't like that Sadie-Mae" he argues.

I hold up my hand "stop. I know it wasn't Daryl, but it still hurts me. I let you in, I told you everything. And when it was time for you to do the same you pushed me away. I can't just pick up where we left off before that happened, I just can't." I try to explain my pain.

He nods and I move to stand up. I go to walk around the truck "Hey" he calls to me and I stop, turning to look at him. I wait for him to say what he wants to say but he doesn't. I turn back around and to the truck, opening the passenger door.

Rick looks at me with a small smile "everything okay?" he asks.

"It will be" I say to him "thanks for waking me up." I say to him. I've been having bad dreams since the incident at the house. Rick's been waking me up through them, he always takes the opposite shift of me. He listens when I tell him about them, and he tries to help me understand them.

"same as before?" He asks. He climbs over the seat, peaking behind him at Michonne and Carl. They sleep in the backseat. He climbs over into the driver side and I climb in the passenger seat.

"No. This one was different." I say closing my eyes. "It wasn't my sister this time that I killed in it." I say, trailing off thinking about the nightmare.

"Then who was it?" He asks.

I look at him, not sure I really want to tell him. I bite the inside of my cheek, thinking of what to say. "I don't know. I didn't get a good look before I woke up" I lie. He doesn't have to know, even I don't know why I dreamed of killing him. "It's your turn. Get some sleep. We should get going in the morning." I change the subject.

He yawns out, accepting the idea "alright, thanks Sayd" he says closing his eyes. I stare ahead of me, wondering what this new place will offer us.

We leave before sunrise. Rick and Michonne take the lead with Daryl in the rear. I stay with Carl, walking in the middle "I think you should forgive Daryl" Carl says to me in a low voice so no one else could here.

I look to him and smile "you should've been sleeping not ease dropping." I chuckle. Of course he couldn't sleep, none of us really could after what happened that night.

"He said he was sorry, that's not easy for him" he responds to me.

"I do forgive him Carl." I tell the young man "I just can't forget what happened." I explain.

"Why not?" He asks.

"My heart- well it's never really been whole to start with. It's been shattered for years. Daryl's the first person I let in who fixed it, who made me feel whole." I explain.

He looks at me confused "then why not forget what happened, he didn't mean it."

"cause it was shattered again, and I can't live through that pain again, I just can't" I say. "I'm lucky I was with you and your dad. You've really helped me through it." I try and change the subject.

I can tell he doesn't want to let this go but he smirks at me "ya, I am pretty awesome" he jokes.

"damn right you are" I smile back. We chuckle together but stop when we notice Rick and Michonne stopped ahead of us. "What is it?" I ask them.

Daryl walks past Carl and I as Rick wipes off a piece of wood with his foot. It's a sign for Terminus "we're getting close now" Daryl comments "be there before sundown."

"Now we head through the woods." Rick directs "we don't know who they are" he adds on.

"All right" Daryl says taking the lead into the woods.


	29. Chapter 29: Walking In

We get to the fence of Terminus before sundown. We all peak through, overgrown vines and trees are our cover. "We all spread out, watch for a while, see what we see, and get ready." Rick directs us. We all start to move "we all stay close." Rick adds on.

"Hey" Daryl calls out to me as we walk. I turn to face him and he moves something off his back. He rifles through the trash bag he's been carrying and pulls somethin' out of it "here" he hands me a bow. It's not as simple as the one he taught me with but it's an upgrade.

"Were'd you get this?" I ask him. He looks down, and I know it was from one of the men who attacked us last night. I shake my head not accepting it "you got a gun?" I ask him.

He tilts his head, knowing I don't use guns "what?" he asks.

"I killed someone last night with a bow. I've killed someone with a gun. Doesn't really matter what I use anymore." I explain blankly with no emotion.

"No.. take the bow." he urges further. I sigh frustrated but don't want to keep arguing with him. I sling the new bow around my arm and move along side the fence for another view of Terminus.

We decide to go in a bit later, seeing nothing to stop us otherwise. We hop over a side fence and walk slowly down an alley way. We make our way inside a building and see people working. It's a large warehouse, no dead bodies, no walkers, just people. There's a women sitting in the middle talking over a radio. "Sanctuary for all" she says.

Rick interrupts her "hello" he says loudly. She stops, as does everybody else and stares at us. We all keep out hands on our weapons, ready to fight if we have to.

One of the men working puts his supplies down "well, I bet Albert is on perimeter watch." he walks over a bit closer to us "you here to rob us?" He asks.

"No." Rick responds "we wanted to see you before you saw us." he puts his gun in his holster.

He sighs out "makes sense." He starts to walk closer again "usually we do this where the tracks meet. Ahem." He makes sure he has everyone's attention in the room "Welcome to Terminus. I'm Gareth." he introduces himself. "Looks like you've been on the road for a good bit."

"We have." Rick states back. "Rick. That's Carl, Daryl, Sadie, Michonne." He introduces all of us.

Nothing but silence follows our mouths. Gareth catches on "you're nervous. I get it. We were all the same way. We came here for sanctuary. That what you're here for?"

"Yes." Rick says quickly back.

"Good. You found it. Hey, Alex." He calls back to someone. "This isn't as pretty as the front. We got nothing to hide, but the welcome wagon is a whole lot nicer." The man steps up next to him "Alex will take you, ask you a few questions. Uh, but first, we need to see everyone's weapons. If you could just lay them down in front of you." I look to Daryl, who looks to Rick. I follow suit when Rick nods and starts to lower his weapon. "All right. I'm sure you understand." Gareth encourages us.

Rick answers back "yes, I do."

We all lower our weapons and the two of them come over to search us, making sure we put everything down. "I'd hate to see the other guy." Alex comments while checking Daryl out.

"You would." Rick answers for us. Alex moves over to me now, and I can see Daryl from the corner of my eye stare him down.

"They deserve it?" he asks when he's patting me down.

"Yes." I grit through my teeth.

Gareth finishes checking Carl "just so you know, we aren't those kind of people, but we aren't stupid either. And you shouldn't be stupid enough to try anything stupid. As long as everyone's clear on that, we shouldn't have any problems. Just solutions. Okay." He finishes. He looks at us all before moving away.

Alex picks up Michonne's sword and hands it back to her. He goes to pick up my bow and Daryl steps forward just a bit. When he leans down to pick it up Daryl leans down to pick his own up, eyeing him hard. He returns Carl's and Rick's weapons before stating "follow me."

We follow him through a different door, out into the day light. The smell of food is overwhelming and I spot the women behind a stove flipping something over. "So how long's this place been here?" Rick asks as we pile out one by one.

"Since almost the start." He tells us. "When all the camps got overrun, people started finding this place. I think it was instinct, you know? Follow a path." We get closer to the food, to the women. "Some folks were heading to the coast, others out west or up north, but they all wound up here."

The women stares at us "Hi." She greats us. "Heard you came in the back door. Smart. You'll fit right in here." She smiles.

"Hey, Mary, would you fix each of these new folks a plate for me?" Alex tells her.

Michonne asks "why do you do it? Why do you let people in?"

The man grabs a plate "the more people become a part of us, we get stronger." I look over to Rick who is looking around the area. I spot what he's looking at, a poncho once worn by Daryl. It was packed away in the bus, not needed after winter. I look to him, worry crossing my mind. "That's why we put up the signs, invite people in." He stares at the man in front of him now. "It's how we survive. Here." He hands the food to Carl who accepts it.

"No." Rick quickly slaps it out of his hand and pulls the man to his chest. Michonne, Daryl, Carl and I take his lead and pull out our weapons, ready to fight off whomever comes after us. "Where the hell did you get this watch?" He demands. He has a gun to Alex's head, Glenn's watch in front of him, gleaming at us in the sunlight.


	30. Chapter 30: Captured and Contained

Silence. None of us even breath, waiting for the answer. None of them come back with a response, scared of who we are. "Where the hell did you get this watch?" Rick demands again, growing impatient.

"You want answers? You want anything else? You get 'em when you put down the gun." Alex tries to get him to let him go, to surrender.

"I see your man on the roof with a sniper rifle. How good's his aim?" He says to him. I turn my bow upwards, ready to try and take him down if I have t, pushing the little voice in my head away. "Where'd you get the watch? Where'd you get the watch?!" He keeps asking.

"Don't do anything! I have this! You just put it down. You put it down!" Alex yells up to the man on the roof. The man listens, lowering his sniper and stepping away from the ledge. "You want to listen to me. There's a lot of us.." Alex tries again.

"Where did you get the watch?" Rick tightens his grip.

"I got it off of a dead one. I didn't think he'd need it." Alex finally answers him.

"What about the riot gear? The poncho?" I yell back, shouting out the other things that belonged to our group.

"Got the riot gear off a dead cop. Found the poncho on a clothesline." Gareth is now in front of us, standing calmly.

"Gareth, we can wait." Alex says to his friend.

"Shut up, Alex. You talk to me." Rick shouts.

"What's there left to say? You don't trust us anymore." Gareth says knowingly.

"Gareth." Alex cries out.

"Shut up" Gareth holds his hand up, my bow aimed directly at his heart.

"Gareth, please." Alex pleads again.

"It's okay. It's okay. Rick, what do you want?" He asks him.

Rick spits "where are our people?"

"You didn't answer the question." Gareth responds. Rick turns his body and Alex's and a gun shot goes off. People run off screaming.

I shoot one bow towards Gareth but I can see it just grazed his arm. "Get down. Go!" Rick calls out as gunshots ring through the air. We move together, to get out. We try to run where we came from but bullets prevent us from moving that way. We try to run for an opened gate, but they close it before we can get close.

"Come on, here!" Daryl waves us over to another gate. He tries to get it up but it stays locked.

Michonne points to another door "here! come on!" She yells and we go through the door. We get back outside and more shots go off. I hear people yelling, radioing to one another. We are blocked from one direction and turn right, heading towards a building to get away from the bullets.

As we run we hear voices calling out "Help! Help!"

I keep moving, looking around for who is shouting "what the hell?" I ask as we move.

"Let us out! Help!" We hear as they bang against metal.

"Keep going." Rick demands.

We get inside. Candles are lit in this room with names written in chalk all around the floor. "What the hell is this place?" Daryl asks as we look around.

The wall is painted. 'Never Again. Never Trust. Us first, Always.' Michonne adds on "these people, I don't think they're trying to kill us."

"No, they were aiming at our feet." Rick clarifies.

"Why!?" I ask even though I don't think I want to know the answer.

"There!" Rick points to an open door. As we move closer though it slams shut and locks.

"There!" Daryl points to another door and we run.

Rick in the rear "go!" He demands. We get outside. I see the fence, and run towards it seeing Michonne and Daryl on my side. People pop up from the bushes, their guns points directly at us. We all stop, knowing we can't get pas them.

"Drop your weapons! Now! Now!" Gareth shouts to us. We all face him. "Ringleader, go to your left." He directs Rick. "The train car, go." Rick stays standing, his eyes focused on Carl "you do what we say, the boy goes with you. Anything else, he dies and you end up in there anyway." Rick moves his feet, heading to the train car keeping his eyes on Carl. "Now the archer, the man." he directs towards Daryl. Daryl and I glance at one another and he notices "Don't worry, she'll meet you in there." He says about me. His arm bleeds from where the arrow grazed him. Daryl moves towards Rick, staring at me intently as he passes. "Now the samurai." He tells Michonne. I stare at Carl who stares at me. "Stand at the door, ringleader, archer, samurai, in that order."

"My son." Rick yells. Carl's eyes finds his fathers and we wait for more direction.

Gareth answers "Go, kid." He directs and Carol starts walking towards them slowly. "Ringleader, open the door and go in."

"I'll go in with him." Rick demands to wait for his son

"Don't make us kill him now." Gareth sighs out. I can hear the train car open, the thick door thudding.

"The girl?" I hear Daryl shout out meaning me.

"Graze her" Gareth shouts and a gunshot goes off.

My left arm jerks backwards with force and I scream in pain "ahhhh!" I kneel down grabbing at it.

"Go." Gareth shouts at me. I stare at him, tears from the pain rolling from my eyes as I stand up to follow my friends, my family. I grip my arm, worried about losing too much blood and follow Carl inside slowly. I glance at my arm before losing the sunlight and there is no bullet entrance. Whoever shot me is a damn good shot and it only grazed me as he directed them to do.

As I step inside I say out loud "I'm okay" to let Daryl and the others know that I'm fine, not to worry about my injury. The train car door shuts and we stand silently.

There's a noise from the other side of the train car and we look in that direction. Shadows appear, the sunlight from the cracks allowing us to see that. As they get closer and our eyes adjust we spot an old friend "Rick?" Glenn says.

"You're here." Rick comments. "You're here." he says again. Daryl now passed me a hankerchief to put pressure on the wound. Relief doesn't cross his voice though, this location not somewhere any of us want to be.

We all look to the few people behind them, their unfamiliar faces causing some tension. "They're our friends. They helped save us." Maggie explains.

The tension is removed "yeah," Daryl comments "now they're friends of ours."

The large redheaded man in the back jokes "for however long that'll be."

"No." Rick states quickly back. He moves to the side of the train car, going to peer out of a crack. "They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out." He says.

Michonne is next to me now, helping hold the handkerchief in place to stop the blood. "Find out what?" The redheaded man asks, stepping back into the light.

Rick turns his face towards them, his side profile stone cold "they're fuckin' with the wrong people."

The end -

Please comment on your thoughts ? of this book! And keep an eye out for the next book in this series (Fighting to Survive)! ?


End file.
